//------------------------------//
// 125 - Viljatown, Crown of Everglow 
// Story: A Dangerous Sparkle 
// by David Silver 
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Sitting amongst the suitcases and handbags in the baggage car, his thoughts swirling darkly, Lex struggled to regain control over his maelstrom of emotions. Alone at last, he bitterly cursed Applejack and Rainbow Dash for pushing him this far. He cursed Sonata and her inscrutable nature, even more opaque than most ponies. And he cursed himself, as he had done so many times before, for whatever was wrong with him that he couldn't simply understand how to get along with others the way that everypony else did.

You're right to hate yourself, came the voiceless words that Lex had come to expect whenever his misery was at its peak. You're defective. You've always been defective. You sneer at that thing that calls itself Soft Mane, but at least its deformities are obvious.

The hate-filled look that Lex gave his shadow would have sent anypony else running. In that moment, he would have given much to be able to permanently destroy that thing.

But you can't, can you? Which means you have no hope at all of defeating Luna and Celestia if they decide to fight you rather than giving up Equestria without a fight. And why would they? You can't even get along with a single mare, even when her friends tell you how.

"Their advice was useless!" snarled Lex, finally goaded into responding. He knew it was a mistake, knew that responding would only galvanize that thing into taunting him further, but at the moment he didn't care. "Just telling me what to do doesn't help me understand why I should do it!"

And a course of action is only worth undertaking if you understand every aspect of it? it scoffed. You can't presume that their advice is given in good faith, and is the correct thing to do, without dissecting it utterly?

"Of course I can't! Without knowing why it works that way, I can't make any adjustments that may be necessary when implementing their advice! Without those adjustments, even if they were right about what to do this time, that won't help me understand what I should do next time!"

A memory came to him as he said that, remembering back when he had been a colt of just a few years. There had been a pegasus filly in his class that he'd liked, and he'd asked his parents for advice on how to talk to her. His father had told him to ask questions about whatever topic she brought up, to show interest in what she thought was interesting. His mother had told him to make sure to smile when speaking to her.

He'd done both of those things the very next day, when she'd been talking about how her father had been injured while at work. For some reason, his grinning widely while asking about the nature and extent of her father's injuries had repulsed her, and he'd overheard her talking about "that creepy weirdo" with her friends at lunch. He'd been heartbroken, and when he'd angrilly confronted his parents later, they had told him that he needed to modify his responses to fit the situation. It was his first memory of understanding that some sort of unspoken nuance undergirded every social situation...nuance that steadfastly refused to make itself known to him.

So then you'll keep up your line of experiments, even though your methodology has yet to produce a single success. How much do you need to prove your own failures to yourself before you'll accept them?

"I refuse to admit failure! I will find an answer, no matter how long it takes!" There was simply no other acceptable alternative. To admit defeat would be to admit that every interaction he'd have with everypony else for the rest of his life would be a study in chaos; a guessing-game that didn't follow any sort of cause-and-effect relationships that he could determine.

Such a scenario was one that Lex refused to consider, because that kind of chaos was too terrifying to contemplate. Interacting with any system blindly ran the risk of complete disaster, something that he'd learned the hard way more than once when interacting with magic. And if that was true with regards to magical systems, it was certainly true with regards to social systems as well.

After all, mused Lex, much calmer now that he had reaffirmed the rightness of his chosen course of action, friendship is magic.





The train pulled smoothly into the station. The ponies aboard departed, unaware or uncaring of the crash that had claimed lives not too long prior. Twilight and her friends were among them, most pleased to be there. Blue and Yellow looked around with lost eyes, staying close to their new friends.

Blue asked, "How can so many ponies live in one place? There can't be enough mines in one place to work."

Twilight shook her head down at Blue, "There are many professions besides mining to choose from. Some of them make clothing, like I'm wearing. Some write books, others pray to gods and others protect other ponies. There are countless ways to prove your worth and earn your keep."

Blue looked confused a moment, before she pointed at herself, "What could I do?"

Yellow spoke, "We can mine. We're good at it, and we'll survive."

Blue gave her mother a frown, "What if I don't want to mine? What if I wanna do one of those other things?"

Applejack moved up into the conversation, "Then ya'll have to learn how to do something new, simple as that. This here's the city to do it in."

Yellow seemed uncertain of the idea, lapsing into a thoughtful mood as she hiked forward.

Lex slowly made his way out of the train, ignoring the surprised porter that opened the baggage car door. Looking around, he spotted the remainder of the group. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he approached them.

Rainbow looked around, hovering a short distance from the ground, "So where exactly are we going?"

Spike pointed up at the castle, "I guess we should start there."

Sonata shook her head, "The nice queen's not there, so I don't think we'll get much done. We should totally just take it into our own hooves. We have money, and we actually care."

Soft Mane nodded in agreement with this, "We do have that. Let's ask around and see if there's somewhere we can get Yellow back to doing what she wants."

"We shouldn't be so quick to discount the government," interjected Lex. "There's more to it than just the queen. I'm sure there must be some official that can offer assistance."

Twilight nodded in agreement with Lex, "We should at least try. Just be ready in case it doesn't go as smoothly as we'd like." The group moved out as one, advancing through the city in the direction of the castle. One of the guards recognized them at the gate. 

She smiled, "The liberators return! What can I do for you?"

Twilight perked up. This seemed like a good start. She gestured at Blue and Yellow, "These poor things were victims of slavery. We've rescued them and were wondering if there was some governmental program to help them get back on their hooves."

The guard frowned thoughtfully, "We have an orphanage?"

Yellow shook her head a little, "What is that?"

"It's unacceptable, is what it is," Lex interrupted. "These two are parent and child, they don't need an orphanage. What they need is housing assistance and employment-training to help them transition to being productive members of society." He didn't bother trying to hide his impatience as he continued, "since it's unlikely that a castle guard such as yourself would know anything about that, you can make yourself useful by telling us what officials in charge of those areas we should speak to."

The guard peered at Blue and Yellow, "Huh, sorry..." She shrugged, "They both looked like foals to me. There are some good schools in the area. You could try appealing to them?"

The other guard, a stallion, trotted over, "We don't have an official in charge of that. I mean, really, it's up to a parent to make sure their child is trained properly."

Twilight stomped a hoof agitatedly, "And when their parents were locked up in a mine?"

Neither guard had much answer.

Sonata lifted her shoulders, "It's up to us or nothing's gonna happen at all."

"That is unacceptable," snapped Lex, still speaking to the guards. "How can there not be an official in charge of the well-being of the citizenry? Somepony has to be charged with maintaining the public welfare, and I want to know who that is!"

The two looked at each other a moment, then one raised a hoof, "There's the overseer of health? Would she work? They don't look ill or poisoned."

Spike put a claw over his face, "Dude, c'mon. I don't think they know."

Twilight suddenly brightened, "Oh! It's so obvious. The temples would be in charge of general welfare. We should try at Luminace's library and see if they can't help."

"No!" hissed Lex, stamping a hoof. "I refuse to believe that Queen Iliana forged a civilized society out of nothing only to abandon the job halfway through! The idea that the downtrodden have nothing but religious charities to rely on is not only ludicrous, it's an insult to what this empire stands for!"

Looking over the guards, who were regarding him blankly, Lex could feel the composure that he'd so recently repaired being tested again. "I demand an audience with Queen Iliana herself regarding this state of affairs!"

Twilight shrugged, "Their priests can literally banish sickness with a touch or mend injuries as easily. Why wouldn't they be in charge of general welfare? Besides, I think you're bothering them."

The guards were becoming a little irritable at Lex's demands. The mare shook her head, "The Queen is not in attendance, nor are you on any list of hers. We've answered your questions, now off with you!"

The stallion nodded in agreement, "Harassing us won't get you anywhere, and Queen Iliana doesn't rule from here anyway. If you want an appointment with the mayor, we'll add you to the queue."

Lex refused to relent. "Neither healing nor treatment is going to banish unemployment or hunger. These two," he swept a hoof towards Blue and Yellow, who were almost cowering in the face of Lex's anger, "aren't afflicted with injuries or sickness, Twilight! And as for you two drill-dulled military morons..."

He regarded them with open loathing, and the stallion was about to reach for his weapon when Lex continued, "Add me to the queue to see the mayor. I will see to it that this issue is addressed."

With that, he turned his back to the both of them and started to walk away, fuming.

Twilight gestured for the others to follow, and they proceeded away from the castle. Twilight tried to direct them towards the temple, "We should still try. The worst they'll tell us is that they can't help, and it's worth the trip at least."