185 - Mutual Maledictions
It was mid-afternoon when Sonata came to get them.
Cozy hadn’t wanted to go back to the tent they’d coopted, but at the same time hadn’t quite felt up for playing any of the games that had been set up in the middle of the camp. Although she’d told Aisle that he should go and have fun if he wanted, he had demurred, instead electing to stay by her side. The two of them had eventually settled down a short distance from the banquet tables, just lying on the grass and watching everypony else.
With her belly full, the sun shining down on her warmly, the sound of laughter and cheers filling her ears, and the presence of her new boyfriend – she’d decided that was the right word for what Aisle was to her now – by her side, Cozy had felt almost content. But she’d only had a little bit of time to wonder if it was alright for her to feel that way so soon after Pillowcase had died when Sonata had wandered over to them. “Hey,” she called, and Cozy had heard the tension underlying the greeting.
Apparently Aisle had also, because she felt him stiffen up next to her. “Is everything alright?” he asked, not even trying to hide his wariness.
Sonata sighed as she came to a halt a few feet from them. “Yeah, listen…Lex knows. All of it.”
Cozy felt a shudder go through her, knowing instantly what Sonata meant, but her dread was muted. The emotional rollercoaster she’d been on over the last twenty-four hours had completely drained her, making it impossible for her to feel any sort of anxiety about what Lex would do. Whatever will happen will happen, she decided. So long as she didn’t lose Aisle, she’d find a way to cope.
Aisle, however, didn’t share her stoicism, leaping to his hooves immediately. “What?! How?!” For a moment he looked completely flabbergasted, before giving Sonata an incredulous look as the obvious explanation came to mind. “Did you give us up?!”
Sonata’s usual bubbliness was nowhere to be found as she sighed, a look of mild exasperation crossing her face. “Look, he’d already figured most of it out on his own, okay? He knew what I did and why I did it before I ever even had the chance to open my mouth. You might remember that he’s kind of a genius like that.”
“So you didn’t tell him anything?” pressed Aisle.
Cozy couldn’t help but give a ghost of a smile for a moment, knowing that he was asking that in hope of somehow spinning things in a way that would insulate her from Lex’s wrath. “Aisle, it’s okay. We talked about this, remem-”
“No!” interrupted Sonata angrily. “You know what? No, it’s not okay!” She stomped a hoof, giving Aisle an upset look. “This is all your fault, buster! I knew this was a bad idea from the beginning, but I let you talk me into it anyway, and now instead of just her being in trouble,” she pointed a hoof at Cozy, “all three of us are! So yeah, I totes tattled on you. Get over it.”
“Wh-, that’s not fair!” protested Aisle. “I was-”
He stopped as Cozy put a hoof over his mouth. “Stop, please.” The last thing she wanted to do was get into a big fight over whose fault it was. Just the prospect made her feel almost ill, to the point where facing Lex’s anger and getting it over with was less distressing. Looking at Sonata, Cozy could guess why she was here. “Lex wants to see us, doesn’t he?”
Huffing slightly, the other mare nodded. “Yeah. Like, right now.” She didn’t wait for a response before she turned and started walking away. “Let’s go.”
Aisle’s eyes met hers as Cozy took her hoof away, but she shook her head, silently pleading with him not to make a fuss. She could see the confusion and worry on his face, but thankfully he didn’t try to change her mind, instead falling in beside her as she trailed after Sonata. Smiling a little, Cozy pressed herself against him as they walked, feeling a little of the tension flow out of him at the contact.
It took barely a minute to reach one of the outpatient tents, and Sonata paused only long enough to announce herself and the two of them before heading inside. Aisle gave her one last look before following, his features tightening into a mask of determination. He’s more frightened than I am, and trying not to show it, Cozy knew. It was endearing, and she found herself smiling for some reason as she followed him, as though the knowledge that they were about to go through something awful together made her love him more.
Whatever happens, we can get through it so long as we’re together.
Lex glared coldly at Aisle and Cozy as they entered his tent, paying no attention to Sonata as she moved to stand next to him.
After he had resumed corporeal form the two of them had spoken at length, with her sharing her feelings while gently coaxing him to do the same. Doing so had calmed him down to the point where he felt mortified that he’d all but dared her to terminate their relationship. Only her repeated assurances that such a thing would never happen had soothed him. After that, they had talked about what had happened earlier in the day, though this had left Lex with only an imperfect understanding as to why she had been acting so erratic.
It had also left Lex with a renewed impression that he had missed something important about Block Party…but there had been no time to dwell on that particular mystery, not in the face of what came next.
No matter what her reasons, Sonata had committed a criminal act, and there was no excuse for it. “Punishment,” he’d explained to her, “even if not publicly performed, is imperative.” And Lex had no intention of making this incident public knowledge; to do so would not only have damaged Sonata’s credibility as his spokespony – who, he had explained to her, would trust her if she had a reputation for using mind-altering magic for her own purposes? – but this situation had little value as a deterrent. After all, native Equestrian magic was far too weak to be used for mind control spells by anypony that wasn’t a prodigy among unicorns, and Lex had seen no indication that such an individual was among the camp ponies. Which leaves only Cloudbank, who knows better anyway, and Aria, who’s already under my direct supervision.
Of course, when he’d told Sonata what the price for her actions would be she’d balked, but Lex had been adamant, making it very clear that he wouldn’t just overlook what she’d done. “Nopony under my authority is above the law.” (That he could have simply pardoned her outright was a loophole he felt no need to point out to her; this was a lesson that she needed to learn.) In the end, after much grumbling on her part, she’d acquiesced after he’d promised her that the condition would only be temporary…as though losing her sense of taste would have made her life unendurable otherwise.
In fact, Lex hadn’t been very happy with the curse he’d chosen for her either. It not only didn’t fit the nature of the crime, but was incredibly minor compared to the scope of her offense. But that couldn’t be helped. A stronger curse would have required him to channel additional magic through his body, and he was in no shape to do that after what had happened when he was creating food for everypony. Moreover, he didn’t dare curse her in a way that was obvious to anypony else, or which interfered with her faculties or magical abilities, not when he was still relying on her for various tasks. All that left was to impede her pleasures, and in this lackluster environment, there were few enough of those. He’d chosen food largely on a whim, deciding it was good enough when he’d heard her disheartened moan.
And now it was Aisle and Cozy’s turn…
“I’m going to make this quick, since the two of you aren’t worth my time,” growled Lex, looking up at the two of them. He silently wished he was able to at least sit up, rather than having to lie down like this, but there was no choice in the matter. In his current condition, it was all he could do to move. “You have both-”
“Please wait!” interrupted Aisle. Wincing at the displeased look he received in reply, he got down on all four knees. “I never told Cozy that you wanted her to help the doctors! She didn't know anything about that, or about trying to deceive you, because I didn-”
“Yes you did,” interjected Cozy solemnly.
“Cozy!” He looked at her, aghast.
Turning to face him, the smile on the crystal mare’s face was one of patient understanding. “I told you before. Whatever he does to us, we’ll get through it together.” She knelt down next to him, leaning over to nuzzle him. “So long as we love each other, I’m not afraid of what happens.”
“Wait, hold on.” Sonata, who had been silent up until now, looked at the pair with wide eyes. “What do you mean ‘so long as you love each other’? I thought…I mean…” She trailed off as she looked at Cozy, not quite sure how to ask how this fit in with her having a dead husband outside.
Aisle looked uncertain about how to answer, but Cozy turned to look at Sonata directly, her face calm as she answered. “When Pillow…when I lost my husband, Aisle was there for me. His feelings reached me when I was at my lowest, and-”
“Nopony cares!” hissed Lex. He had been planning on allowing them to speak in their own defense, but they had just admitted their culpability, which was all that he cared about. “If I hear one more word about your nonsense, your sentences will be increased!” His eyes had already begun to glow again, the purple contrails flickering as he looked at the two, silently daring them to continue with this ridiculous charade. When neither spoke up, he continued. “You have both-”
Sonata cleared her throat loudly.
Sighing, Lex closed his eyes and took a moment to get ahold of himself. It was a struggle just to move one hoof, and only the fact that his whispering spell required barely any gestures and a few syllables of chanting made it possible for him to cast it. Looking over at Sonata, he started feeding her the words he wanted her to say.
She shot a quick smile at him before she started speaking. “You’ve both, like, committed totes uncon-, um, unconscionable acts, and should be super ashamed of yourselves! Your selfishness and stupidity have put the welfare of the ponies in this camp at risk, ponies who have already suffered WAY more than they should have. Your offenses might not be as…wait, can you say that again…? As ‘ih-gree-juhs’ as Garden Gate’s, but you both have acted with the same moral turpentine-, er, turpitude that she displayed, thinking only about what you wanted rather than what you could contribute. Wow, this is a lot.” She looked at Lex, making it clear that last sentence came from her.
He whispered something at her, and her eyebrows went up. “Geez, there’s more? Okay…” She looked back at Aisle and Cozy. “Even so, I-, that is, Lex, am cog-, cogniz-, cognizant of your grief regarding the loss of your close friend and husband, and will grant that this partially mitigates the…wait, the what?” Her brow furrowed as she looked back at Lex. “I really wish you’d let me change this up a little more. I think I did a lot better when I was using my own words to send the same message.”
“Nevermind,” groaned Lex. A purple engulfed his horn as he looked at Cozy. “You ignored the suffering the ponies around you were in. So now, whenever anyone around you is in pain, you’ll suffer a moderate amount of sympathetic discomfort.” Cozy immediately let out a gasp, both at the words and at the sudden ache that settled over her, as though her muscles were cramping after she’d exercised too much. It took her a moment to realize that the curse had already kicked in, and she was feeling a reflection of the pain that Lex himself was in.
Lex’s eyes slid over to Aisle next. “And if your relationship is so devoted, then you shouldn’t be overly concerned with it not having any physical fulfillment.” For a moment the other stallion wasn’t sure what Lex meant, but a sneaking suspicion came upon him a moment later, making him turn red in humiliation. Although he wasn’t unduly focused on the physical part of his newfound togetherness with Cozy, taking away his ability to participate in that was invasive and embarrassing.
Looking over the two for a moment, Lex nodded to himself in satisfaction. “Finally, you’re both prohibited from speaking about this to anypony. Do so, and I’ll increase the magnitude of your curses.” Both of them winced at that, their ears folding back in unison. It was enough to bring a spiteful smile to Lex’s face.
“Now, get out of my sight.”
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8607234
She's got a +10 modifier on her sense motive? I find that surprising. I mean, she's gotta have wisdom of 8, sorcerers don't have it as a class skill, I don't think she has magic items that would help boost that. Mind linking to their character sheets again?
Proportional curse is a lot better as with ghouls around you dont want sympathetic deaths.
Looks like Sonata has finally got Lex to listen to her more and to remember that he's to leave any public speaking to her. Though I think he might need to allow her more room to parse his words instead of parroting his words directly since any attempt to use the more bombastic words in the future will probably garner laughter more than anything else. Though given what the ponies in the camp has been through, that would be welcome.
Also, I like how Sonata got Lex to care more about the the consequences of his action and decisions by making him see that any damage to his reputation would also affect Sonata as well.
The curses he dispensed are practical and rather amusing(to me at least) at the same time.
Sonata loses her sense of taste, which would make anything she eats or drink taste bland. Kind of like denying a child their dessert for dinner or making them eat bland porridge for every meal. This way, she'll learn that using her magic to control someone will have consequences, especially when its done behind his back. Granted, Lex could have done worse but after almost ending their relationship due to his temper, he's unlikely willing to cause another drift so soon.
Cozy's curse is reminiscent of Garden's own curse though it's triggers are more specific and less debilitating. Lex likely intends it to be act as a strong reminder that there are other ponies aside from her who have suffered as well as to encourage her to help those who are suffering with her healing spells, with the exception of Lex, and possibly Cloudbank of course.
Aisle's curse while a decent enough punishment since it removes the possibility of him 'distracting' Cozy from her helping others, feels more like an afterthought on Lex's part. I suppose he based it on his own personal experience since his relationship with Sonata has been quite passionate in the bedroom so denying Aisle that aspect of his relationship with Cozy feels partially like payback for pushing Sonata into doing something that goes against his morale framework.
8607289 Okay, see, here's the thing: Sonata's statistics have changed somewhat between the preceding fics (written by David Silver) and this one. David statted her up as a Ponyfinder character, class levels and all. While those weren't bad stats by any means, I'm of the opinion, that they don't really represent Sonata as we've seen her in the source material, and that it leaves some odd gaps in her design (e.g. she doesn't have charm person...presumably because Everglow ponies are fey?).
Given that I'd written up the Sirens using Eclipse (the same book I used to stat up Lex), it wasn't that much of a stretch to write custom stats for Sonata as well. (I'll proactively note that this might be slightly non-canon for this fic, as it references Sonata slightly in the future from where things are now despite having been written almost a year ago...as such, I make no guarantee that what's written about her future activities there is going to actually be the case here.)
In this case, I elected to give her a modestly high Wisdom (i.e. 14) and a low Intelligence (8) as representative of her personality (and, needless to say, her Charisma is through the roof at 24). That might sound odd, but it's important to remember that Pathfinder has its own definition of "Wisdom." Namely, that it's an odd agglutination of "willpower, common sense, awareness, and intuition." That's tricky because - like all mental ability scores - it's melding several things together that really should be measured separately. Sonata has terrible common sense, for example, but I see her as having a great deal of mental resilience (i.e. a strong will, separate from her Will save, which is her ability to resist "mental influences") since being banished to an alien dimension and being continually dumped on by her sisters didn't erode her bubbly personality. Her awareness is actually pretty good (i.e. she's cognizant of most of what goes on around her, such as the background poster about Taco Tuesday) but her intuition is terrible (i.e. she can't figure out why that's less important than draining the negative energy from the students in the cafeteria). So I see it as something of a mixed bag.
(By the by, if you like that, I've recently written up stats for another notably pony using Eclipse. Is this a hint that she'll appear soon? I won't say either way!)
8607700 Well, ideally Cozy is outside of the danger zone that is Vanhoover...right?
8607757 Sonata's ability to serve as a spokespony quite obviously (at least to her, and quite likely to everypony else except Lex) works best when he can explain his ideas in a way that she understands, and can then present to everypony else. We saw an example of this, which worked out quite well, way back in chapter 58. Here, however, Lex is basically trying to make her parrot his words directly, and it's not working very well, even if it was hilarious to write.
Insofar as reputations go, the irony here was that Lex was able to comprehend the danger to Sonata's reputation (from her using magic to manipulate people) more than he was with regards to what his attitude does to his own. That was meant to be a counterpoint to how Sonata could clearly see what Lex was doing to his public image, but had no real problem with enchanting somepony else (other than the fact that she knew it would upset Lex; as an issue unto itself, she has no problem using her magic on someone when she feels like it). In other words, the two of them were ultimately more concerned about each other than they were about themselves. It was meant to be a subtle nod towards the dynamic of their relationship, and the fact that they love each other very much.
As for their curses...I'll respond to each in turn (and thank you for using the spoiler blocks!):
Sonata: The thing to remember here is that Lex is extremely adept about justifying his actions to himself. While his moral/political/legal framework might seem like it doesn't allow for any sort of nuance or subtlety in what actions to take, it's actually byzantine enough that Lex can come up with a way to legitimize quite a bit. We caught a glimpse of this way back in chapter 13, when Lex refused to apologize for almost killing Fireflower based on his mistaken impression that he was attacking Sonata. In this case, I strongly suspect that Lex didn't want to do anything particularly bad to Sonata, and the twin considerations of "I'm too injured to use a major curse right now" and "her abilities are necessary to keep this place secure" were justification for his giving her a curse that was little more than a mild inconvenience. (And the fact that he noted that he had pardon prerogatives as well, even if he elected not to use them here, was surely no coincidence.) As such, things worked out nicely, there.
Cozy: You're exactly right, here. Cozy's curse is a far less serious version of what he did to Garden Gate, since he couldn't channel additional power into it (not that he would have, in all likelihood; Cozy's failure to provide assistance was nowhere near as bad as what Garden Gate did, especially since he has no knowledge that anyone was actually hurt by it). Given that it provides her with a motivation to help anyone around her that's in pain - since that will mitigate her own discomfort - it quite nicely motivates her to act (or, alternatively, to stay away from everyone if they're sick or injured). Of course, that makes her a poor fit for combat, but at this point Lex doesn't seem to be concerned with that.
Aisle: Aisle's curse was the least burdensome because Aisle had committed the mildest offense. Cozy and Sonata had both done things that were morally wrong - Sonata through her actions and Cozy through her inaction - but Aisle's crime was little more than conspiracy; at the metaphorical end of the day, he might have put the idea in Sonata's head, but she was the one who went along with it. Had she not done so, it would have been questionable if Aisle had done anything at all. Given that, he couldn't really receive a penalty worse than Sonata, and when Cozy let it slip that she and Aisle were in a relationship, Lex knew exactly what to take away from them, since he's in one himself.
As always, thanks for the detailed feedback!
8607854
Yeah her original spell set lacking charm person is kinda off, though as you point out, it was probably left out because it technically doesn't work on most of the Ponyfinder character races because it specifically says 'humanoid creature' and except for satyrs, none of them actually count as such according to pathfinder rules. Thinking about it, this seems like a bit of an oversight, since this would logically apply to other lower-level common spells too, like Hold Person, unless there's quadruped-specific versions they made to fix this gap. (If not, I know I'm definitely making some if I ever DM a Ponyfinder campaign.)
8608193 Back when the d20 System/D&D Third Edition debuted back in 2000, one of its big revolutions was that the game engine had been integrated much more tightly than in previous editions. While this had a lot of benefits, it also made the game engine as a whole more vulnerable to the Law of Unintended Consequences, since various aspects of the system were now all interactive rather than being balkanized into largely-independent subsystems. The issue with certain spells not affecting creature types besides Humanoids, thus giving a "stealth" boost to PCs with non-Humanoid characters, is one of them.
Presumably, there are other single-type "translation" spells out there that would stand in for these (e.g. a charm fey spell that is identical to charm person in every way except that it only works on creatures of the Fey type). Otherwise, you'd end up with Pony-controlled Everglow having a slight deviation from the "magical norms" of most other non-pony societies in terms of how they view certain effects. That is, spells that paralyze, charm, or dominate ponies would be seen as difficult spells to master, since the only viable ones would be charm monster, hold monster, etc. That isn't to say that the extant "person" spells wouldn't exist, but they'd largely be reserved for use against gem gnolls or kobolds and their ilk, and be seen much like hide from undead as types of spells that are usable only when you happen to run into specific kinds of unusual creatures, rather than spells with a generic usefulness.
First off, super glad to see Sonata is doing the spokespony thing again. Not only is it helpful to Lex, it's always adorable and hilarious.
I'm not sure about the punishments. I don't think they are too harsh if they are temporary, as Lex said to Sonata. Though that depends on how "temporary" they are. Of course, if only Sonata's curse is temporary when her crime was the most serious of the three according to Lex, that's a real problem.
The other problem with the punishments is that they are secret. Secret trials and secret punishments are always a big fat red flag. How does Lex justify secret punishments in his moral framework, especially the additional punishment for telling ponies what he's done? It's hard to think of a justification for keeping the punishments a secret that doesn't also give Sonata justification for using her mind magic.
8608336
That part was a lot of fun. They quite clearly have some issues to work out where this particular duty of hers is concerned.
I'm glad you brought this up, since it highlights a point where, upon review, I feel like I've done a bad job making Lex's stance on this particular issue clear.
In chapter 135, Lex broadly outlines that the three pillars of criminal justice are just deserts (i.e. letting the punishment fit the crime), deterrence (i.e. discouraging other people from committing the same acts), and rehabilitation (i.e. redeeming the offender into being a productive member of society). This last one carries the implication that is salient, here: all punishments are inherently temporary (save only for the death penalty, which Lex doesn't levy against ponies anyway, and which he typically reserves for deadly combat situations where judicial action cannot be taken anyway...and so technically isn't a "penalty" per se), since once the guilty party has been rehabilitated there's no further need to punish them; indeed, it would be cruel to do so. In other words, once Lex is convinced that the offender regrets what they've done and won't do it again, he'll rescind the curses he's placed on them. So Garden Gate, for example, will be released from her suffering once Lex believes she's changed.
The problem, of course, is that Lex is terrible at making those sorts of judgment calls.
There are two major considerations with regards to why criminal punishments should be conducted publicly, in Lex's view. The first, as stated, is deterrence. You can't make an example of someone if they're tried and punished secretly. The secondary consideration is if the condemned individual potentially represents a continuing danger to society; in that case, making sure everyone knows about them is imperative for safeguarding the public. Hence why Garden Gate's initial curse - which was basically a mark of justice (which, remember, is a kind of curse) - included a mark on her face in the shape of Severance.
In contrast to that, there are also considerations against conducting criminal trials in full view of the public. One of these is that the resulting social opprobrium might be harsher than the actual punishment itself, which in Lex's mind would impede the rehabilitative process. As someone who grew up in Equestria, internalizing the value of friendship and other social bonds, Lex keenly felt (and continues to feel) the lack of those bonds in his own life; ergo, he's very sensitive to the fact that stigmatizing someone in the eyes of society might make things worse for them than they otherwise deserve. This necessarily only goes for relatively minor offenses, but can be particularly notable if it would otherwise impact the condemned's livelihood. In essence, he recognizes that there's a right to privacy for those he punishes...it's just that this doesn't go very far if there's a greater public interest in knowing their shame.
(There's also his version of "national security," but that's not really a factor here.)
Insofar as this case goes...there's a confluence of factors, largely arising out of the fact that these three crimes (Cozy's depraved indifference towards hurt ponies where she had the power to help them, Aisle's conspiracy to engage in the use of mind-altering magic without the victim's knowledge or consent, and Sonata's actual use of such magic) are interlinked. With regards to deterrence, there's virtually nothing here that's applicable; Cozy is the only one - besides himself or Cloudbank - who has access to healing magic, and so there's no real lesson to teach. Aisle's crime is difficult, since conspiracy unto itself doesn't really become a crime until the actual action is undertaken (hence why someone can say "let's go rob a liquor store," and it's not a crime until they actually do). And Sonata's crime, as with Cozy, can't be utilized as a lesson that can be taught to the public at large.
Similarly, none of them represent a threat to the public, in Lex's estimation.
Given that, the case for necessarily making their crimes public knowledge takes a major hit. Throw in the fact that Sonata and Cozy could potentially face major social repercussions for what they did (i.e. the camp ponies could take it very poorly that Cozy could have helped them, and chose not to...and, likewise, be nervous and distrustful towards Sonata, which wouldn't be good for a spokespony), and suddenly there's good reason for why this shouldn't be broadcasted to everypony. That was why he didn't want them to say anything about this, either, since it wouldn't just be them who suffered if they told everypony about what happened. Sonata is the one who, in his estimation, stands to potentially lose the most (the fact that he's in love with her technically has nothing to do with that).
To put it another way, "slap on the hoof" punishments (not necessarily crimes, but punishments) - where there's no societal teachable moment, and the offenders aren't dangerous - have no compelling public interest that requires them to be made into spectacles. Given that Lex made sure to showcase Garden Gate's (much more severe) punishment to everypony, Lex seems to be avoiding heading towards a repressive regime...at least so far.
8608413
Yeah, this is a Lex communication issue. If he said "this curse will last for 7 days, then I remove it" or "I will remove this curse when you do X, Y, and Z to demonstrate you've learned your lesson" he would be a lot better off. Sonata really needs to work with him on that.
Of course. But there's a third major consideration which Lex has not considered, since to him it's not a problem: One of the reasons punishments are made public in a fair society is so the at the public can judge if the punishment is just and fair, or if the government is abusing its power to punish.
Lex doesn't consider the possibility that he's wrong, so he doesn't consider the idea of checks and balances in a society he rules necessary, so it makes total sense he wouldn't think about this. And we the audience know he was trying to be scrupulously fair in his punishments. But Aisle here just got a punishment that has to be humiliating, and given his low opinion of Lex, it seems likely he thinks Lex just told him to keep his punishment a secret because A)Lex is afraid other ponies will hate him more for cursing them (in Aisle's mind B) Lex doesn't want the public to know Sonata committed a crime because she's his 2nd in command.
This is a bit off topic, but looking through your wordpress blog, a thought occurs to me: Lex, Sonata, and other characters that have visited the Everglow have Pathfinder-esque stats, because Everglow is a Pathfinder world. For ponies that have never visited Everglow, should they have Equestria Tails stats, since that is the official system for Equestria? What about Cloudbank?
8608699
She absolutely does, though he wouldn't agree to either of those proposed solutions. The reason for that is because you can't really set a firm timetable - or a series of tasks - on rehabilitation. It's extremely specific for each individual, and can't really be judged by a timer or checklist, it just has to be intuited. The problem, of course, is that Lex can't really do that, hence why Garden Gate broke down in front of everything and his only reaction was to think that she was a liar.
Well...yes and no.
I won't say you're wrong, but what you're describing is a system that is very much alien to Equestria. Remember, this is a society that is ruled over by a monarchy with - according to what we've seen - absolute authority. There's no manifestation of any sort of checks or balances on the political power that the princesses wield (save, perhaps, for each other). We don't see any sort of pony senate crafting laws, nor pony judiciary where Celestia and Luna's rulings are challenged. There's certainly nothing that resembles anything remotely like democracy, save for how schoolchildren elect their Student Pony President. If we limit ourselves strictly to what we see in the show, everypony just sort of trusts the princesses to rule over them, and that's that - the most discontent we've ever seen was in season five's Princess Spike, and that was little more than an angry mob that wanted Twilight to account for "her" lousy management.
Ultimately, the very idea of the public playing any sort of role in the maintenance of good governance isn't something that's present in Equestria. Rather, what they have is a benevolent dictatorship that simply doesn't dictate very much, preferring to act as an example that the populace eagerly follows. Given that, along with Lex's staunch faith in his own intellectual capabilities (and distaste for everypony else's lack thereof - save only for Twilight), he's likely considered this only long enough to discard the idea entirely. As far as he's concerned, the public takes their direction from the ruler, not the other way around.
...and he wonders why he's not very popular among the ponies who know him.
I suspect Aisle isn't necessarily wrong on that second count, though Lex would never admit that (likely even to himself, given how he can rationalize almost anything), but I have to wonder if Aisle would consider that keeping that a secret protects himself - and Cozy - as well.
If you look very carefully, you'll see that - although both are using Eclipse: The Codex Persona - the ponies that have been to Everglow are using the Pathfinder rules (via Eclipse) for character-building, whereas the native Equestrian ponies that haven't are using the 3.5 rules (via Eclipse) for character-building. That might seem like a distinction so small as to be meaningless, but for the majority of the populace it can be rather notable (just take a look at Rarity, for example; I also strongly recommend reading these stats for Rainbow Dash by the co-author of Eclipse).
I do have Tails of Equestria, but it's not really something I can use for this fic. The entire purpose of my using RPG rules is to set a firm baseline on what can be done, as well as how. To that end, it needs to use the rules as a framework to set an objective standard for the way that the world works. So long as everything runs according to that standard, it does what I need it to do. The standard that I'm using is the d20 System (which powers D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, and numerous other games)...and that doesn't mesh with Tails of Equestria at all. The two systems are simply too different in their construction, with the latter being FAR more rules-light than the former, and no easy way to translate characters from one set of rules to the other. Ultimately, while I might mine a few ideas from Tails of Equestria, I can't really use it as background for how things work in Equestria in this story.
Also, an unrelated note of my own:
Full Disclosure: I did some minor editing of this chapter to address a gap in Lex's sentencing Cozy and Aisle (i.e. that he didn't give them a chance to speak in their own defense).
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I suspected that might be the case, but I wasn't sure, and I wanted to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. He's had a hard day after all!
That's a good point. If the public knew Cozy was holding back vitally needed healing magic, and perhaps even the ability to purify some of the rotten food, they would be very unhappy. But I also wonder about Lex threatening them with greater punishment if they tell. I mean, if the secret is for their own good, and they told anyway, how would Lex justify punishing them? (As you can see, I love nothing more than seeing Lex doing mental acrobatics).
I did take a look at Rarity, and I quite liked it. I have noticed you're using the "Pathfinder adjustment," well done. Though I have to ask... Low Fantasy build? Does it look like Rarity lives in a low fantasy world?
This is quite true, though based on what we've seen (and of course in the comics) I suspect Mayors are generally elected.
But I greatly appreciate you pointing out that ideas about democracy and checks and balances aren't the natural state of the universe, they're something that species evolve in response to series of bad leaders, and Equestria hasn't had the circumstances to need them.
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They all seem to be hard days for Lex, don't they?
But slightly more serious, finding a rationalization that legitimizes something that he wants to do but can't quite bring himself to do otherwise is something he's gotten good at. That won't let him violate his moral code per se, but it does provide a sort of "ethical cover" that he can use to explain things - often only to himself - in order to make them technically acceptable. The most obvious time we ever saw this was with his aborted attempt to kill Fireflower, but it's not unbelievable that Lex is doing something similar here, in order to protect Sonata from the consequences of her actions (or at least, consequences worse than losing her sense of taste for a little while).
This doesn't invalidate the reasons he'd present to justify the actions he's taking, of course; they remain legitimate on their own. It's just that he's not being entirely honest about his motivations (and luckily, his moral framework doesn't place any emphasis on motivations as factors for judging the moral aspect of an action). Given that Lex values honesty, this is a bit of intellectual "sleight of hoof" on his part, as it allows him to be less than completely truthful without ever saying an untrue word.
This, of course, is one of the main objections that a lot of people have to intellectualism, that it allows people to engage in sophistry via a labyrinthine framework of legitimizations (the "legalese" that lawyers use is an offshoot of this) to obscure what they really mean, or say one thing and then do the other via some technicality that fulfills the letter of their statements while perverting the spirit. Lex is a master at that, and has no opposition to using it...provided that it can survive his own moral scrutiny. Because he needs to utilize just methods and achieve just ends, rationalizing one won't help him if the other isn't achieved. It's how he self-regulates from going too far; we can see that in action in chapter 44 of The Apple Falls Far From the Tree, where Lex initially balks at helping Applejack and the Fillies get back to Equestria, only to reverse himself a moment later as he realizes that he's not achieving a just end by letting them stay in such a dangerous world, even if that burdens him to help send them back.
What he mostly uses this for is to try and lie to himself about why he's doing what he's doing. He can make as many arguments in his head as he wants about the necessity of a firm hoof to guide Equestria into the future, and he's not necessarily wrong about that...but that doesn't change the fact that, deep down, what he wants most of all is to be liked and respected, the way everypony else takes for granted. He wants friends extremely badly, but can't seem to get them, and so is trying to make a grand gesture that will overcome his deficiencies and win the respect and admiration of the people...and he hates that he's motivated by something that he regards as being extremely petty. He doesn't want to want to be admired, and so he tends to react badly when he is; hence his statement about "wanting to be liked is beneath me" in chapter 110. But the tulpa that the Night Mare inflicted on him won't let him forget...and so he struggles against it all the more.
All of this highlights, to my mind, why Lex is struggling to stay Lawful Neutral, since he could rather easily rationalize his way down to a heartless Lawful Evil, or stop doing such a thing altogether and rise up to being Lawful Good.
Well, I did most of the gymnastics in response to the previous paragraph, so here I'll just say: that was because Cozy and Aisle are not the only ones who stand to potentially face a public backlash if the truth were to come out. Sonata would, at least to Lex's mind, potentially fare the worst, since Aisle didn't really do much of anything, and Cozy might be forgiven on account of being a grieving widow. Sonata has no such excuses, and so could suffer the worst backlash if everypony knew that she had no problem bending people's thoughts for her own purposes.
The fact that he's in love with her and can't stand the thought of her being treated badly by everypony surely has nothing to do with it (as alluded to above).
To be fair, that's a shorthand for "how much personal power a character will need over the course of their adventuring career," since more points let you further pump up your ability scores, and those are central to the majority of a character's capabilities (in some manner). Given that Equestria, as seen in the show, doesn't actually require that much adventuring (in terms of adversarial confrontations that descend into physical/magical conflict), a low-powered allotment seemed right. After all, even when things get tense, the overall scale and scope of the conflicts in Equestria tend to be - when set against the objective bar of the d20 System - fairly low-level. They might seem otherwise due to the overall stakes of the conflict, but even these tend not to be too terribly bad (remember how everyone thought Nightmare Moon's kingdom of eternal night would mean the death of everything in Equestria, only for the season five finale to disprove that widely-held theory?).
Given that most episodes tend to be slice-of-life interpersonal problems, and that most of the ones that aren't tend to involve the ponies running away from an enemy (e.g. Twilight runs from the hydra, Applejack gets Applebloom away from a chimera, Pinkie and Maud outrun some quarray eels, etc.), only a few are conflicts that involve physical harm...and most of those end (and oftentimes only really start) with a magical deus ex machina anyway. While magic might be widely prevalent, it's not powerful in 99% of those instances...we're just getting a front-row seat to the exceptions. It's a "low" fantasy in terms of the overall scale of power, rather than the prevalence of fantastic elements.
I have to wonder about whether or not local towns hold elections, since there seems to be a vague implication that Mayor Mare's destiny is, well, to be mayor of Ponyville. The comics certainly say otherwise, of course, but the comics have been flagrantly wrong too many times for me to take them seriously. Twilight Sparkle's mother is not writing the Daring Do books, for instance. Luna did not get her "ethereal mane" when she got over her guilt about being Nightmare Moon. There are not a horde of "umbrum" waiting below the Crystal Empire to flood out when the Crystal Heart is destroyed, etc.
The only things the comics, unto themselves, have contributed is the name of the Ogres & Oubliettes game, and the names of Twilight's parents. There might be one or two other things, but that's pretty much the sum total of what the show has utilized that the comics invented first, and none of those are actually narrative plotlines (the closest we saw for that was in season five's The Mane Attraction, when Twilight referenced Pinkie Pie and the Ponypalooza Rock Concert). The comics have been better about fleshing out backstory and supplementary plot lines for what we've seen in the show (and the movie), but they're still not actually contributing anything to it. As such, I really don't think they're canon.
And certainly that awful Journal of the Two Sisters isn't either.
Sure!
A lot of fans seem to forget that Equestria is a benevolent dictatorship, where the actual "rule of law" isn't a thing. Instead it's a place that treats friendship and harmony as the bedrock upon which their society rests, rather than ways to limit an individual's power (which is just as well, since unlike on Earth, Equestria has individuals who are far more powerful than their peers, with the princesses being the apex of that, at least for ponies).
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That's a good point.
Lex is being stupid. Sonata can be liked by people for who she is but Aria is a bitch that needs to use her magic to get people to like her.
He is to arrogant to see his mistakes which means that eventually he will fall.
Lex is setting himself up to be a dictator that thinks he is a good leader.
8613613 Sonata might be more personable, but in this case she actually committed a crime. Aria is bitchy, but so far she hasn't actually done anything wrong (notwithstanding her initial fight with Lex). As for Lex...well, Celestia and Luna are already dictators, they're just well-liked. Lex is betting he can be better than them at actually getting stuff done, even if he's not as well-loved. We'll see how that goes.
Nothing to report!
9112679 Superb.