261 - Credit and Cabbages
“Here you go!” chirped Sonata happily as she handed a cabbage to the old grey mare in front of her. “Eat up and enjoy!”
The old mare gave her a warm smile as she hugged the vegetable to her chest. “Thank you so much, dear. And please thank that nice young boy of yours, too. He’s such a brave stallion, that one.”
“I will!” Sonata immediately moved to make good on her statement, twisting her head around to glance behind her. “Hey Lex! This nice lady says thanks! And that you’re brave! Ooh! And ‘nice’ too! Can you believe it?!”
Glancing up from the clipboard and pencil that he’d absconded from one of the doctors so that he could keep track of the food distribution, Lex sent an uncomfortable glance toward his girlfriend before his eyes flickered over to the grey pony beside her. Making eye contact with him, the elderly pony smiled and sent him a cordial wave. Shifting in place uncomfortably, Lex gave her a perfunctory nod before going back to his paper.
“That’s, like, totes his way of saying ‘you’re welcome, and I’m super happy that I was able to help out,’” offered Sonata.
“Oh, the bashful type, is he?” laughed the old lady. “I have a grandcolt just like him. I gave him my spot on the boat getting out of here when the flooding started. He’s the sweetest boy you’ve ever met, but as soon as he meets someone new, he just becomes tongue-tied and can’t-”
“That’s adorable,” interrupted Sonata. “How about you come by later and tell me all about him, ‘kay?” She resisted the urge to glance back at Lex as she spoke; hopefully he wouldn’t mind that she’d been rather creative with the words he’d had for the dawdling old lady – sent to Sonata courtesy of that whisper-spell of his – for holding up the line. “Next!”
Taking the hint gracefully, the old mare meandered away with one last wave, which Sonata returned before looking at the next pony stepping forward. “Step right up!” she smiled at the pegasus colt that was next, a blank-flank who looked like he was barely old enough to start attending school and who was currently sitting there immobile, gazing at her with wide eyes as though dazzled by the sight of her. Unable to help but puff up with joy at the open admiration, Sonata beckoned to him. “Don’t be shy!” she cooed. “We’ve got plenty of food for everypony!”
“We do not have enough food for everypony!” came Lex’s harsh whisper in her ear. “That’s why we’re only passing these out to children, the elderly, and anypony who’s severely debilitated!”
“I meant everypony in line here,” whispered Sonata in reply, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, keeping a smile on her face as the colt regained enough presence of mind to wander over to her. “Seriously, take a chill pill and enjoy being a hero for a few minutes, would ya?”
In the half-hour since she’d gotten back, word about the approaching train had spread through the camp like a wildfire, and the place was brimming with excitement. A large number of ponies were now crowding the train station, anticipating its arrival even as they stared intently at the plume of smoke that was growing steadily more visible in the distance. A few were peering in the windows at where Lex had apparently sent Aria, and as Sonata glanced that way she saw a pair of fillies with their faces pressed against the glass give a sudden shriek and run away, laughing. The sight made her smile, and not just because she liked the thought of Aria’s face frightening small children; those two had been in line five minutes ago, and had refused to take their cabbages before giving a special cheer (one of them had a pom-pom cutie mark, and the other’s was a ribbon-laced baton), getting the nearby ponies to spell out “thank you Lex” one letter at a time.
Of course, Sonata had been expecting something like this ever since she woken up this morning. After she’d headed out to buy some food, letting Lex get some well-earned rest, she’d quizzed the ponies she’d taken with her about what they thought about the battle from last night. They’d initially been reluctant to say anything, worrying her, but after a bit of prodding they’d opened up, and a torrent of adulation had come pouring out. “Amazing,” “incredible,” “heroic,” and other words had been thrown around like they were going out of style, and Sonata had been walking on air the entire trip there and back. They were being quiet at first because they were star-struck, she’d realized, which meant that she and Lex were the stars! About freaking time!
She’d been intent on breaking through everypony’s awe once she got back to the camp, wanting Lex to experience the outpouring of gratitude that was apparently just waiting to be unleashed, but the sight of the train had apparently done that for her. As one old stallion had put it, “seein’ y’all fight like that was like a dream, but now…have’n somethin’ else good happen, s’all suddenly real. Thank ya so much.”
That really didn’t make any sense to her – the fight hadn’t been very dream-like for her – but who cared? The camp ponies finally adored them! And here’s the latest example! she cheered to herself as the pegasus colt stared up at her, eyes wide and jaw open. “Here you go, little guy!” she reached down toward him, a cabbage balanced on one hoof. “A special treat, just for you.”
He took it slowly, gazing at the vegetable as though he couldn’t believe that she’d just given him something, before managing to bring his eyes back up to look at her. Gulping, he licked his lips, clearly trying to remember how to talk. “W-…w-…”
“Hm? What is it?” She made a show of tilting an ear toward him, smiling encouragingly.
“W-will you mawwy me?” lisped the colt, before ducking his head down behind his cabbage, peeking out from behind it bashfully.
A chorus of adoring coos erupted from everypony around them, and Sonata was no exception. “Aww! You are so adorable!” Overcome by how cute the little guy was, Sonata couldn’t help herself, kneeling down and giving him a hug before planting a kiss on his forehead. “Hey Lex!” she called, turning around to grin at her boyfriend. “I’m totes leaving you for this little cutie here!”
He glanced up sharply at that, and Sonata saw him scowl as his eyes took in the scene. “It was a joke,” she whispered as quietly as she could, knowing that quite a few eyes were on them right now. “Just roll with it, and everyone here’ll think you’re super charming.”
Uncertainty flashed across his face then, and Sonata had just enough time to realize that it wasn’t going to work. Even if he knew she was kidding he had no idea what to say in response. She had just started to think up a line to feed him when Nosey – who had been glued to his side the entire time since Sonata had gotten back – leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Lex blinked once, glancing at the newsmare, before looking back at where Sonata still had a foreleg around the colt. “I, um…” He paused, glancing around again uncomfortably before licking his lips. “I can’t bear to go on without you,” he said woodenly. “I’ll curse myself to sleep forever if you’re not here with me.”
For a split-second Sonata felt ill-will toward her friend for butting in – she’d have been able to come up with that! – but let it go as she turned back to the pegasus colt. “Aw, sorry little guy! I can’t let Vanhoover’s hero be taken away from everyone like that! But I’ll, like, always remember you!” A round of warm-hearted chuckling came from everyone watching, and Sonata knew they were eating it up. Standing, she waved goodbye as she stepped away from the little charmer, whose eyes had grown as round as dinner plates as he watched the exchange. Nodding, he stumbled away, walking backward so as not to take his eyes off of her for a minute before an older pegasus ushered him away, sending Sonata a grateful look.
She nodded back, and was already turning to the next pony in line when a loud cheer went up from the ponies gathered around the train station. Turning, Sonata peered at the horizon, and after a moment of squinting saw what they were excited about: the train was visible, coming around the foot of one of the distant mountains as it wound its way toward them. As though it heard everyone, a whistle could be heard a moment later, soft but clear as it cut through the air. The sound sent a new wave of whooping and hollering through the camp, ponies throwing their hooves in the air and hugging each other in joy.
“It’ll be here in approximately ninety minutes,” murmured Lex.
Sonata almost asked him how he knew that, but managed to stop herself just in time. It probably had something to do with math, and listening to Lex talk about math always made her sleepy. “Awesome! You’re gonna be here when it does, right?” She tried to make the question sound casual; if he stayed here for the train, he’d be able to rest up and enjoy everypony’s treating him like a star instead of rushing off to do whatever dangerous thing was next on his agenda.
Thankfully, he nodded. “I want to verify who’s operating that train and what brought them here.”
Sonata blinked at that, confused. “Aren’t the train tracks bringing them here?”
“I mean why they’re here now. The rail service to Vanhoover was shut down, so what’s changed that they’re suddenly resuming it?”
“Um, a lot of stuff, duh,” scoffed Sonata. Had he hit his head or something? “We, like, stomped all over the bad guys and saved the day!”
“And how would whoever’s on that train know that?” pressed Lex.
Sonata shrugged. “I dunn-, oh! Now I get what you mean!” She gave him a sheepish grin, chuckling.
Lex sighed, turning away from the distant train to look back at his clipboard. “We should distribute the rest of these before it arrives. That way we can devote our full attention to the train without worrying about any of this food being misappropriated while we’re occupied.”
Sonata smiled. She had no idea what “misappropriated” meant, but she could tell that he was concerned about the neediest ponies not getting fed. “I wouldn’t worry about that,” she chuckled. When he sent an inquisitive look her way, she waggled her eyebrows at him knowingly, and then pointed. A short distance away, the old grey mare that had been trying to talk her ear off a few minutes ago was engaged in conversation with a middle-aged unicorn stallion, who was shaking his head and waving a hoof in a clear gesture of refusal. But the old mare apparently wouldn’t take no for an answer, tearing off a large section of her cabbage and tossing it to him. “She’s not the only one,” continued Sonata. “Almost everypony we’ve handed these out to has been sharing them with someone else.”
“That defeats the purpose of what we’re doing,” frowned Lex, his eyes narrowing. “The entire point of this exercise is to distribute food based on need. Dividing them too much insures that they’ll be insufficient nourishment for everyone here, rather than a sufficient amount for the most vulnerable.”
“Maybe,” shrugged Sonata. “But I bet they’ll be fine.”
Lex scowled, clearly disapproving of her laid-back attitude. “Based on what, exactly?”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “Based on the fact that I know what they know.”
“Which is?”
She shook her head slightly as she closed the short distance between them, nuzzling him. “That they’ve got someone here who’ll do everything in his power – which is, like, a lot – to make sure that they’re taken care of.” Ending that with a wink, she headed back to deal with the other ponies in line, tossing one last comment over her shoulder.
“That’s what heroes do.”
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Lex jealous of a little colt eh? Bet quite a number of thoughts on the social ramifications of an adult being with a foal crossed his mind(along with some about not wanting to lose his beloved) before Sonata cleared things up.
Though it seems that Lex isn't the only one who experienced a brief bout of jealousy this chapter. Wonder how long it will be before Sonata catches on and calls her best friend out for stealing her boyfriend, or so she'll think.
Anyways, it seems that regardless of whoever is on the train, Lex and Sonata seem to have the support of the ponies in the camp though public opinion is a fickle thing that changes oh so easily at times.
Currently, the worse case scenario I can think of for the train is that its a rapid response militery transport, which carries no supplies except what the squaddies are loaded up with, the actual supply train is behind them where it can be delivered when the bridgehead is secured. leaving the way open for a tactical retreat, either via the tranpsort or as a known movement corridor?
That is, far more mouths to handle with least amount of useable materials relative to numbers.
The good news is that a train is getting closer.
The bad news is that those riding the train is getting closer.
My guess is that Lex will instantly be blamed for the sorry state the town is in...
"We gave you permission to be the mayor of this city... and not 1 week goes by before we find the city in ruins"
9075626 I suspect that it was more a case of Lex being hyper-sensitive to any hint that Sonata might leave him (again). We've seen, on more than just one occasion, just how much even the thought of that can affect him. So her making an obvious joke about it now was enough to trip an alarm bell for him, at least momentarily. Of course, this was immediately turned back on Sonata when Nosey came to Lex's rescue, showing her up. Clearly, Lex and Sonata still have issues to work out, even if they do seem to be getting better.
But hey, for the moment they're enjoying the fruits of their massive labors...even if some new development is ninety minutes away and closing in fast.
9075963 Somehow I find it impossible to believe that Equestria has anything remotely resembling a military; the closest they have are the Wonderbolts or the Royal Guard, and we've seen just how competent they are.
9075970 It wouldn't surprise me if something like that occurred. After all, there's only a camp full of starving ponies, a field full of mutilated bodies, a depopulated city nearby...all under the watch of the unpleasant guy using dark magic. It's kind of a provocative situation.
Sonata and Nosey are doing a vary good at showing Lex in a new better light.
now how will this hold up when the train pulls in and unloads passengers?
9078261 Hopefully it won't undo everything; Lex and company have worked quite hard for everypony, and it's nice to see them getting some well-deserved accolades.
9078428
some how i see this going to ware Lex is going to have to fight to keep things going.
he is going to have to remind the princesses of there deal.
9075044
I'll admit I read it like 15 years ago, but I think Midnight, Kelemvor and Cyric were the original trio questing to recover the tablets. Cyrics betrayed them (as is proper for an aspiring evil god), but he failed and Midnight and Kelemvor handed them over to AO. He rewarded them for doing a good job by giving them the vacant spots, then realized he still had an empty spot and Cyric was right there, so he gave Cyric an ascension like the equivalence of a soccer participation trophy. Sure, AO is all powerful, maybe he manipulated things on a grand scale so those three would be there, but AO never really seemed like he cared enough to meddle at that level to me.
He also seems like he goes out of his way to torment Malik even as he's serving Cyric. Yeah, he gets an evil goat monster to ride, but that's it. I'm going to cut Cyric some slack on this though, as it fits with the "outsiders are fundamentally insane" idea that evil outsiders aren't really capable of not abusing their servants. Bane did act pretty similarly to his devil servants in the old stories.
Mask may well have been actin on orders from his mother Shar.
That didn't work out perfectly for her, but she got an awesome new realm (Shadowfell) where all the dead had to pass through, at least she didn't get put on house arrest.
I bet Cyric believes its a badge of honor, but while he's trapped in their the other gods are probably at work eating up his church and everything else.
Let's not forget the guy was smart enough to forsee his own death (as a consequence of his insane ambition, admittedly) and engineer a way around it. He's not had as much of a role in the books as Cyric has, but he's also conquered the entire goblinoid pantheon in the last century. And he's smart and self-aware enough to eventually realize that whole "evil guy believes infighting makes his minions stronger" is BS, so he put a stop to it and just said "everybody listen to Fzoul, he's my special little chosen boy."
Regarding the bargain he made with Szass Tam, your milaeage may vary, but it seemed to me when reading it (again, long ago) that Szass made that bargain because he thought he would destroy the world and remake it, so he wouldn't really be held to it. Bane knew what Tam was up to and predicted (correctly) that he would fail and be forced to live up to his agreement.
That's exactly how I see it, though as you say it's up for interpretation. I could see powerful divine magic just looking at infinite futures, finding the one where an artifact was destroyed, and then tracing it back. Of course, even in a dimensional model where that's possible, it's fantastically difficult.
I dunno. That piece you quoted does make it seem like they need to have been made up. On the other hand,
Seems to imply that it's power level, rather than notoriety, that makes something "legendary." Unless its impossible for anyone to get a mythic rank secretly.
And then there's
I think you're assuming that "generally" means at least someone had to know it, but that doesn't seem like the case to me.
In any case, even if Legend Lore only reveals stuff that is already known, the section on Vision is
It looks like Vision just shows you what actually happened, regardless if any being is actually aware of what happened. I think your explanation earlier about difficulties analyzing and interpreting this stream of data fits really well here, since it explains the caster level check and chance of getting it wrong.
I will admit, this might be my human sensibilities. Certainly I would rather be thrown in prison than cursed, but based on the prevalence of mind control and "reforming spells," I've already stated elsewhere that Equestria in general probably considers this type of thing a much more humane punishment. More humane, in fact, than prison.
That's one of those things that is always changing. These days many solitary confinement is increasingly being considered "inhumane," but it's still practiced in most countries.
I'd already started discussing this above, but you're right. I've said elsewhere that I could see Equestria seeing corrective mind control magic as a necessary evil the way we see prison, and seeing prison as a horrible evil only to be used as an absolute last resort the way most of western society would regard mind control. To ponies, permanent prison means locking a pony away from their family and community, and almost certainly preventing them from enjoying friendships or practicing their special talents.
That reminds me, I had a thought: Is Spit Polish a Royal Equestrian Guard? I don't remember if he's technically still actively enlisted or what, I just bring it up because while Celestia and Luna generally seem to let Mayors do almost anything they want, punishing members of the military (even for big things like trying to assassinate said mayor) they might consider as falling under their purview.
Yup, also see Xiriel.
I liked that little colt, I'm imagining Featherweight. Nosey does a diplomacy assist on Lex, and it works! Turns out all along he needed 2 public speaking assistants!
9079133
It's been a while since I read the books as well, but that's not how I remember it. Cyric and Kelemvor were companions who had quested, unsuccessfully, for the Ring of Winter. They met Midnight and Adon right around when the Time of Troubles started, and after several adventures Cyric killed Kelemvor, took the Tablets of Fate (I can't recall if it was one or both of them), and brought them to Helm at the base of Waterdeep's Celestial Staircase. Midnight and Adon were in hot pursuit, but were ultimately unable to stop him. Ao then stepped in, chastised the gods, and asked Midnight to take Mystra's place, which she reluctantly accepted. Cyric started to voice a complaint, at which point Ao told him that he (Cyric) would take the place of the dead gods of evil (Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul). The book ends with Ao noting that it was Midnight and Cyric, together, who had brought Balance back to the pantheon. So really, Cyric got there under his own power, with Midnight being the one who was just in the right place at the right time (albeit with her having been granted some of Mystra's power beforehand, just before Helm slew the goddess).
As for Kelemvor, he didn't become a god until ten years later, at the end of Prince of Lies.
Ironically, the events of Crucible: The Trial of Cyric the Mad were predicated on the idea that, along with Cyric supposedly being too mad to fulfill his divine duties, Mystra and Kelemvor were still acting like mortals, and so were incompetent. As for Malik, well, Cyric gave him his own heart, and he did (later on) give him the ability to be able to function despite pain (i.e. he still feels pain, but it never becomes debilitating for him). See Dragon #245 for AD&D 2E stats on Malik (along with a short story set just after Crucible) that confirm this.
Insofar as I'm aware, there's nothing to suggest this. Occam's razor tells us that it's a bad idea to assume something with no real cause behind it, as a generality.
The 4E (and subsequent) changes aren't really my bug, so I can't confirm if that's the case or not. But her goal was to be the sole goddess of magic, at which she failed spectacularly.
Er, what? No. He's still able to do everything a god does in terms of keeping his church going; he's not unable to grant spells, omens, or otherwise act as a god should. He just can't personally leave his realm.
I can't recall if I mentioned this before or not, but Bane didn't foresee his own death on his own. He had to get Shar's help for that (see the beginning of the Pool of Twilight novel). At that point, he apparently started trying to come up with contingencies (a la the Hand of Bane artifact from the novel Finder's Bane), one of which just happened to work.
Again, we're venturing outside my area of expertise, but as I recall Bane basically got a few of the goblinoid gods to work as his underlings after the Spellplague's effects upended the planes and caused a lot of divine deaths. So he basically took advantage of the situation to grab what few deities they had left...nor was he the only one, since every major god walked away from that with some weaker gods serving under them in the new cosmological arrangement. (And as I recall, all of this has been undone thanks to the Sundering.) Honestly, that entire thing was a construct of 4E's desire to cut way, way back on the number of gods (just look at what happened to the drow pantheon during Lolth's Silence and the subsequent events of the Lady Penitent trilogy).
Which doesn't seem to have produced much of an effect in terms of having his church/the Zhentarim conquer much of anything.
Tam was counting on being able to complete the Unmaking, which would have allowed him to reshape all of reality as he saw fit, and so escape from his bargain with Bane. However, there was no indication that Bane knew what Tam was up to, at least not in that series.
The problem with that whole idea is that if magic - that is, magic that mortals are capable of wielding (and sub-epic magic at that) - can parse through infinite possibility and then "trace it back" like that, then we've got something of a scaling issue, since the gods themselves don't seem to be able to do that. At the very least, there should be stronger spells that can do that with near-perfect capability (much better than, say, vision) to the point of being able to effectively predict the future perfectly, and yet that doesn't seem to be the case. As such, it works out much better to say that you're just consulting with beings that are smarter, have better information-gathering apparatuses, and some sort of greater "viewpoint" of reality than you do, rather than suggesting that the information can be pulled from some sort of Akashic Records.
Where "made up" is shorthand for "this is something that people, somewhere at some point, knew about."
I think you're reading too much into it, here. What's going on is that a game mechanic is being used as a shorthand for what's considered to be "legendary" (in terms of legends being known and retold). That's an incredibly clumsy way to indicate such a thing, but it's consistent with how the d20 System eschews in-character explanations in favor of mechanical ones, rather than utilizing both. So we get a rule that, because it's not paying attention to the in-character side of things, inadvertently sends a rather awkward message about "how" things work.
The thing to remember is that vision doesn't "show you what actually happened." Rather, it just shows you something; the difference between this and a legend is that you're given the information visually, rather than simply becoming aware of stories that were told. The listing for the spell in Ultimate Intrigue flat-out says:
The part about "sees as if she were there" isn't meant (as I understand it) to indicate that the PC actually witnesses the event/person/thing in question as if they'd somehow traveled through time and space to be a witness to history. After all, that doesn't require interpretation. Instead, you're getting a sort of visual poem. Of course, that might include elements that happened as if they were there; the best sorts of visions mix truth and metaphor liberally. Hence why the example vision given might be the literal last moments of the witch in question, or might be a representation of that but which didn't happen that way, or with aspects of both.
As mentioned, Equestrian society doesn't seem to believe in the concept of "punitive measures." A sincere statement of apology is enough; the closest you get to that is some sort of instructional lesson that happens to include repairing whatever damage you might have caused. Of course, it helps that we never get any examples of truly heinous crimes in the show; the worst of the worst are non-ponies who seem intent on invading. For those individuals (who can't be redeemed, for whatever reason), they do get imprisoned, whether in Tartarus, turned to stone, etc. T
he only one who seems to have been truly killed (and, interestingly, was also a pony...arguably) was King Sombra.
That's largely because the debate between punishment and rehabilitation is still ongoing; punishment that's too cruel tends to inhibit rehabilitation not just because it engenders immoral values in someone, but also because it can damage them to the point where they have difficulty reintegrating into society even if they'd otherwise want to. Lex, being a product of Equestria, doesn't want that...but he does believe in punitive action, unlike most other ponies. It's one of the areas where he thinks there needs to be greater action by the state to improve society. On the surface, it's hard to see a lot of ponies agreeing with him, but after what's happened in Vanhoover (being beyond what most ponies could imagine, let alone adequately deal with), well...it remains to be seen if he's right.
"Corrective mind control" isn't quite the phrase I'd use. To reiterate what I said above, evil magic often (but not always) behaves like a disease in Equestria...or perhaps a poison is the better analogy. That is, using it too much tends to cause a buildup in your system (be it physical, spiritual, psychic, etc.) that causes your thoughts to run out of control. A "reform spell," in that context, simply purges that agent from you, allowing you to return to normal. Of course, this has complications of its own; remember how Discord started fading away in season seven's Discordant Harmony when he tried to be normal, and how panicked Fluttershy was? My guess is that chaos magic had essentially become an integral part of him (and perhaps always was) so that removing it (and "reforming" him) would likely have killed him, causing him to cease to exist.
Spit Polish was just an ordinary pony before everything happened; he was never part of a military. Insofar as it goes, Equestria doesn't seem to have a military. There are local police (who seem to never deal with anything other than minor disturbances of the peace), private security (who seem to do little besides keep fans away from celebrities), the Royal Guard (who do pretty much the same, but for the princesses), and the Wonderbolts (who have long since become a stunt team far more than any sort of peacekeeping unit). That's pretty much it. It's why, in King Sombra's alternate future (in season five's The Cutie Re-Mark, Part 2), Equestria had to mobilize a total war effort just to stand up to the Crystal Empire, which was little more than one city-state (unless we assume that Sombra was putting those mind-control helmets on captured ponies as well, but that's speculative).
9079169 When in doubt, use the aid another action!
Sonata has way too much Charisma. OP Pls nerf.
9221577 Request denied, Charisma shall be retained at a value of 24.