289 - On the Cusp
“So, what’s tonight’s sexy-fun-times activity going to be?”
Lex let out a slow breath around gritted teeth, not looking back at her. “Sonata…”
“What? I figured you had to have thought about it, since you have so many hot girls around you. I mean, the way River took it all off wasn’t exactly the sexiest thing around, but it must have gotten you going for tonight, right?” She paused for just a moment, then continued. “Oh wait! That’s right, you didn’t mean for her to put on a show for you! Why did I think that you cursing her to not be able to wear her clothes would mean she’d get undressed? Gosh, I’m so dumb! Tee-hee!”
Lex didn’t bother responding this time, just heading toward the train station in silence. Sonata had been like this all afternoon and into the evening, and his patience for it was running out. He had explained to her multiple times that River’s having taken her clothes off wasn’t meant to be for his or anypony else’s viewing benefit, but was an aspect of how she could no longer indulge in luxuries. But for some reason Sonata hadn’t seemed to comprehend what he was telling her, continuing to harp on the fact that he’d still ended up with another pretty mare putting herself on display for him due to his actions, and no matter how he tried to explain that she was being illogical, he hadn’t been able to get through to her.
Eventually, Lex had given up on trying to understand why she was upset and turned his attention to other things. Food still had to be distributed, after all. More ponies with money needed to be dispatched to nearby farming communities. Preparations needed to be made for when more survivors inevitably drifted out of the city. Most importantly, the vessel that River had returned to Vanhoover in needed to be taken control of. Although Lex was sure his curse would debilitate her if she set hoof on it – she’d called it a “yacht,” after all, so it had to be luxurious – that wouldn’t prevent her staff from piloting it.
To that end, Lex had sought out C. Shells’ remaining crew, dispatching them to the dockyards to seize the boat. Nor had they gone alone; once again, he’d ordered the doctors to prepare the patients most in need of hospital care for transport, this time to Tall Tale. Severance had completed the ensemble, being ordered to protect them until they were on the boat, and then return to the camp and resume guarding the western edge of it just in case something unexpected was still lurking in the city.
Despite the precautions he’d taken, however, the entire endeavor had left Lex nervous. It wasn’t so much that he thought any of the patients might turn into ghouls; with the most at-risk patients already having been sent to Canterlot via the train, the ones being sent to Tall Tale now weren’t in imminent danger of death. Only the recent surgical patient was still under intensive care, and they were too weak to travel. Rather, his unease came from the thought of what would happen after the patients had been delivered.
Although he’d instructed Compass Rose – the redheaded mare who was apparently C. Shells’s second-in-command – to come right back once the doctors had returned from delivering their patients to the hospital, there was no guarantee that they would. If anything, it seemed more likely that they’d simply deposit the medical ponies and their patients at the Tall Tale dockyard and then leave. Lex still remembered how badly they’d reacted when he’d informed them that C. Shells and Sandbar had perished.
But there was nothing to be done about that. Although he could have placed a conditional curse on them if they disobeyed his orders, or told Sonata to enchant them so that they’d want to follow his instructions, neither of those actions were acceptable. He’d cursed River for making a credible statement of criminal intent; Compass Rose and her companions had made no such statements that Lex was aware of, ergo the only thing he could do was explain that their presence was still needed here – there were likely to be more survivors coming out of Vanhoover every day, and with how strained the camp doctors already were, it was inevitable that more of the sick and injured would need to be ferried to Tall Tale – and hope that they did the right thing. If not…then he’d just have to deal with it somehow.
The thought wasn’t a reassuring one, and Lex was still brooding over it as he entered the train station. Oblivious to his worries, Sonata continued prattling as she followed him. “So since we don’t have any clothes that we can take off for you, what’s tonight going to be? Group make-out session? Or maybe a little hair-pulling to go along with the touching? I mean, I don’t mind but Aria doesn’t really have any-”
“There won’t be any touching this time!” The words came out harsher than he’d meant for them to, as well as louder, filling the lobby. Sonata fell silent, for which Lex was grateful, while Nosey and Aria looked up from where they’d both been nestled against the far wall.
The latter pouted as she stretched, dragging herself over to them. “Aw, no slap-and-tickle tonight? I was looking forward to it.” Her usual sardonic sneer reemerged as she glanced at her sister. “So what’d you do to ruin this for me?”
Sonata opened her mouth to retort, but Nosey jumped in before she could, trying to head off another fight. “So what’ll we be doing, then?” she asked, looking at Lex.
“Spellcasting,” he replied flatly. “You’ll each use your magic, one at a time, while I observe you.”
All three girls waited for him to say what else would be involved. When no further explanation came, Aria frowned. “Seriously? That’s all?”
Sonata seemed equally skeptical. “It doesn’t have to be, like, we try and cast a spell while you poke and prod us like before, and if we can’t do it we get some sort of sexy punishment?”
“I don’t really know many spells,” murmured Nosey uncertainly. “I’m not a wizard the way the rest of you are.”
Lex shook his head. “I just need to see how the magic flows through your bodies when it’s being actively utilized. Precisely which spells you use are immaterial. Just don’t cast anything dangerous or destructive.”
“And after this we’re done?” asked Sonata, remembering what Lex had told her that morning. “No more ‘experiments’ with all three of us?”
Lex nodded. “That’s correct. If this gives me even a fraction of the data I think it will, I’ll have everything I need to generate a spell to change Aria into a pony.”
“And how long will that take?” Despite the fact that she could only whisper, the anticipation in Aria’s words was audible.
“Not long at all.” Lex’s answer came easily, his confidence clear. “Once this is over, I should be able to make a spell to change you into a pony in less than twenty-four hours.”
“I dunno if this is a good idea,” murmured Feathercap as he followed the others.
Straightlace nodded, glancing around nervously. “My dad says it’s bad to go wandering around at night, even here in the camp.”
Fruit Crunch rolled his eyes, not looking behind him as he led the way. “Look, you guys said you wanted to be part of the Night Mare’s Knights, right? Well this is what it takes.”
“I thought you said that we were going to be practicing being superheroes, going on missions and helping people who’re in trouble,” frowned Fiddlesticks, carrying a sleeping Tiddlywinks on her back. “So how come we’re creeping around the edge of the camp like we’re running off to do something bad?”
“And why does it have to be in the middle of the night, Crunchy?” yawned Cleansweep. “If my mom wakes up and finds out that I’m not there, she’ll freak.” Her mom, Feather Duster, had flown into the camp earlier that afternoon, out of her mind with worry. She’d broken down into tears when Cleansweep had flown up to her, hugging her so tight that the filly was sure her ribs were bruised. Since then, she hadn’t let her go the rest of the day, eventually falling asleep with her hooves around her. When Crunchy had woken her up to say that they were headed out on the Knights’ first mission, she’d barely been able to wriggle out of her mom’s grip without waking her up. “We’ll be back before morning, right?”
“Oh for crying out loud, you guys.” Fruit Crunch gave an exasperated sigh as he stopped in place, the others coming to a halt as well. Turning, he looked them over as well as he could in the dim light; they were currently making their way along the northern edge of the camp, just barely within range of the campfires. “Look, when I told you about the Knights, I said this wasn’t just some big game of pretend. We’re really going to gain magic powers so that we can help people the way Lex does, and in order to do that we’re going to need the Night Mare to give them to us.”
“But we don’t know anything about the Night Mare!” protested Feathercap.
“Exactly!” snapped Fruit Crunch. “That’s the whole point of this mission: we’re going to talk to someone who does.”
“Wait, so we’re going to talk to Lex?!” Straightlace sounded panicked at the idea. “My dad says we should just leave him alone unless he talks to us first!”
“Shh! Keep your voice down!” hissed Cleansweep. When it became clear that no one had heard them, she turned to Fruit Crunch. “Seriously though, if we’re going to talk to Lex, why are we doing it in the middle of the night?”
“And why are we headed away from the train station?” added Fiddlesticks. “That’s where he goes to sleep every night.”
“We’re not going to talk to Lex,” replied Fruit Crunch with a cryptic grin, before turning and walking again, the others scurrying to follow him.
“But if not Lex, then who?” pressed Cleansweep. “The only other pony who ever said anything about her was that pegasus friend of his, and she’s, you know…gone now.”
“What about Miss Sonata?” ventured Fiddlesticks. “She’s his girlfriend, so she probably knows.”
“No, she’s in the train station too,” said Feathercap quietly. “I saw her go in with Lex a while ago.”
Fruit Crunch nodded. “For once, Featherbrain, you’re right. It’s not her either.”
“Then who?” asked Cleansweep, the curiosity clearly getting to her.
“You’ll see,” smirked Fruit Crunch as he kept leading them through the darkness. Long minutes passed as they trudged along, always staying just outside of the camp without ever venturing further away from it. Finally, Fruit Crunch slowed down, nodding toward something. “There.”
Fiddlesticks frowned, and was about to protest that she didn’t see anyone when she realized what Fruit Crunch was talking about. “You can’t be serious!”
Straightlace was already shaking his head. “My dad says we shouldn’t ever go near that thing.”
“This…this is definitely not a good idea,” croaked Feathercap, clearly terrified by what Fruit Crunch is proposing.
Even Cleansweep seemed unsure. “I dunno about this, Crunchy…”
“Well I do!” Stomping a hoof, Fruit Crunch glared at each of them. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired of being some weakling nopony. I want to be strong the way Lex and his friends are, and since I’m not a unicorn this is the only way I can see that happening. Now, I’m going out there. The rest of you can do whatever you want.” Without another word, he turned on his hoof and marched forward, the others staying where they were as they watched fearfully.
Forcing a smile onto his face, the colt held out a hoof as he walked toward the scythe floating in front of him. "Hi. Your name's Severance, right? I'm Fruit Crunch." The weapon's only response was to rotate slowly in midair, its blade pointing toward him intimidatingly. Gulping, the foal made himself to keep going.
"I have a favor to ask: please tell me everything you can about the Night Mare."
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change Aria into a pony?” -- is that actually a question?
Sarcastic Sonata is somehow more adorable than regular Sonata.
Man, I cannot wait to see what Severance tells them! I kind of feel like he's the "Lex" of the Night Mare's servants, i.e. really bad at social skills. (Should Severance get his own, companion scythe to telepathically communicate on his behalf as his spokesweapon?)
Hah! I was just joking around about Severance teaching the 'Knights' and yet here we are. While the question of whether the scythe would teach them is still in the air, Fruit Crunch didn't turn tail and run so that's a point in his favor.
Though even if Severance does tell Fruit Crunch about Night Mare, I think it will either go over his head or he'll be scarred by the knowledge. Or be further enticed by the bits of the Night Mare's dogma that he'd be able to comprehend.
As for the matter with C.Shell's crew, I doubt they'd abandon the ponies of Vanhoover over their mutual dislike and/or fear of Lex. At worst, some of the crew will stay in Tall Tale with the excuse that it would allow more supplies and other volunteers to be brought back to Vanhoover.
9255147
*Imagines Sonata equivalent of a sentient weapon following and badgering Severance*
To be fair, Severance was fairly more eloquent and convincing than Lex when it spoke to Thermal Draft of the Night Mare's teaching.
I wouldve thought if Severance was to get his own SpokesSonata, it should be Tiberius forbear.
SQUEAK.
Thats something, if theyre on the Cusp, does that mean its all downhill from here?
if Severance will talk to the would be heroes they will defiantly find out what they want.
i am hopping this works out, this would be a huge boost in promoting the Night Mare.
9255066 Whoops. No, it's not. Fixed now!
9255147 I'm finding that Sonata's a lot of fun to write in virtually any circumstance.
As for Severance having a servitor weapon...well, as an independent, intelligent entity, it should have a gear value for whatever its level is. And adding sentience to a weapon is only a small GP cost. But I somehow don't see that as being a scythe; since that's the Night Mare's favored weapon, I can see Severance wanting to keep that status for itself. So maybe there's a ditzy flail that it keeps around, always bashing her head into things and making blunt statements?
9255293 It's an open question as to whether or not the scythe will respond to Fruit Crunch's entreaty. But if it does, there's a lot to be gained all around. The basic exchange between deities and worshipers is that they each gain something from the relationship, that being new followers for the deity (since faith empowers them) and new powers for the mortals (in the form of spells and abilities). The more salient question is whether or not those children are willing and able to put such knowledge into practice (i.e. have the alignment necessary to become divine spellcasters).
Of course, Severance has ways of "fixing" that alignment problem. And you don't have to be a divine spellcaster to worship a deity...
As for C. Shells' remaining crew, they do seem like good ponies, so hopefully they'll come back. Except maybe Scrubby...
9255464 Were Severance to have a subordinate weapon, I'd look for some way to put a fun twist on it. One thing to consider would be how intelligent weapons used to be able to overpower the ego of the people wielding them (albeit only if they came into conflict with them), essentially "possessing" them for a period of time. The d20 rules watered that down though, making it so that if the weapon wins an ego check, it simply demands concessions of some sort or it refuses to help out.
9255509 If Severance agrees, and the children go through with it, there's definitely a chance that they'll learn something. But what remains to be seen.
9255584
Wouldnt Severance have a secondary thats cute cuddly and evil then?.. Given Angel bunny isnt available, maybe Basil the Genuine Siberian Hamster?
92552974 I feel like expounding on the philosophy of the Night Mare is one big Intimidate check, and I could see Severance being a lot better at that than Diplomacy. Heck, I could see Lex with Bruising Intellect doing some Intimidate very well, based on his character.
But now it's time for the "Severance talks to children" hour, which best-case will be like traditional German folk tales.
9255570 The flail works perfectly because it's basically a weapon with a giant ponytail!
9255584
A subordinate weapon for a scythe?
like what? a swiss army knife?
Well, that's one way to learn things.
9256113 Well, Severance sort of has the whole "cutting things" bit down, so that's why I suggested a flail.
9256159 When in doubt, ask someone who knows more to teach you.
9255721
Huh...didn't think of that. Lex is a living pony who has an enchanted artifact as his liaison of sorts to Night Mare so it would make sense for the scythe to have a living being acting as his liaison, possibly the ponies but that would make them the equivalent of Severance(save for the whole deadly blade bit), not Sonata.