313 - Decision Point
“So, what do you think?”
Celestia waited patiently as Luna considered the question, her sister looking out a nearby window in silence. After several seconds her horn lit up, her eyes fixed on the night sky, and Celestia knew that she was making an adjustment to the position of the moon. It was only when the sparkling aura faded that Luna turned to look at her, sighing. “I don’t know. Based on everything Sonata and River told you, and what Nosey and that colt relayed to me, Lex Legis has performed many valorous deeds in service to the ponies here. And yet…”
“It feels like there’s something they’re not telling you?” When Luna nodded, Celestia returned the gesture. “That’s how I feel too. Sonata seemed to become nervous several times while we were speaking, and River looked surprised when I mentioned the mark on her face…” She could still see the other mare’s expression in her memory, the way her eyes had widened in sudden alarm when she’d pointed out the scythe-shaped mark on her cheek. It hadn’t been the look of someone who’d painted the design on their own face as a show of support.
“Maybe you should speak with her again?” offered Luna. “If you think that she’s holding something back, it might be because she was nervous about speaking while in close proximity to Lex, or perhaps to Sonata, since she’s his spokespony. She might say something different if you talk to her while she’s here at her estate, away from them.”
“Perhaps.” But Celestia didn’t think so. Unlike Luna, who spent very little time dealing with social functions since her royal duties required her to stay awake at night and sleep during the day, Celestia spent a large chunk of her waking hours entertaining various members of high society, and in so doing had gained some insight into how such ponies acted. In her estimation, River’s attitude had more closely resembled somepony desperately trying to hide something unpalatable rather than being afraid for her safety. If that were the case, then her story wouldn’t change just because she was back at her manor.
There certainly hadn’t been any such fear among her staff, at least as far as Celestia had been able to determine. Of course, suddenly having two princesses and a squadron of guards drop in unexpectedly in the middle of the night hadn’t exactly given her the best chance to make any inquiries. Their arrival had prompted a flurry of nervous activity among the sleepy servants, and when Celestia had relayed River’s message about them staying there, the assorted maids and butlers had flown into a full-on panic trying to prepare rooms for them. Only the head butler, Trotsworth, had remained calm, steadfastly directing the others and turning what would otherwise have been a messy and drawn-out scene into an organized and efficient effort. Under his direction, suitable arrangements had been prepared for everypony – with Celestia and Luna offering to stay in a single room together (something that they’d procured only after repeatedly assuring Trotsworth and Silhouette both that they not only didn’t mind such an arrangement, but found it preferable) once it had become clear that there was only barely enough space to house everypony, apparently due to the manor having suffered some damage either during or immediately after the elemental bleed that hadn’t been repaired yet – and a light meal had been arranged for everyone.
It had been after the food had been laid out that a fat little earth stallion had arrived, with Trotsworth announcing him as River’s son, Piggy Bank. Celestia had been looking forward to talking to him, River having previously let it slip that Piggy had remained in Vanhoover after the flooding, but that hadn’t happened. Piggy’s jaw had hit the floor as soon as he’d seen who the food was being laid out for, and Celestia hadn’t even had a chance to open her mouth before he’d turned and run back into the manor as fast as his little legs could carry him. “Star-struck, I’m certain,” had been Trotsworth’s explanation.
Celestia herself hadn’t been hungry, but she’d nibbled lightly at the servings in order to be polite while Luna and the guards helped themselves. Once everypony had finished, the staff had shown them all to their rooms, gathering up the luggage that the guards had brought with them as they’d whisked them all off into the inner part of the manor. Trotsworth had personally carried Celestia and Luna’s things as he’d brought them to “the manor’s finest guest-quarters,” as he’d called them – a suite of rooms that could have easily come straight out of a fancy hotel – and after assuring them that some of the staff would remain awake throughout the night in case they needed anything, the old butler had bid them goodnight.
By that point, Celestia had been more than ready to turn in, but had resisted the urge to sink into the large bed in the main room of the suite. Instead, she and Luna had caught each other up on what they’d learned, informing each other of the conversations they’d had and what they’d been able to glean from them. That had taken almost an hour – according to the clock on the wall – and now they’d arrived at the question of what to do with what they’d learned.
“I’m also concerned about what Lex said before,” added Luna, bringing Celestia’s attention back to the present, “when Sonata and Aria were having their disagreement.”
“That’s one word for it.” Moving into a nearby chair, Celestia couldn’t help but chuckle at the memory of the sisterly squabble.
Luna smiled as well, but the expression disappeared from her face after only a few seconds, replaced by a look of concern. “He said ‘I should curse you both.’ I know he might have been speaking metaphorically, but the way he made all of those black crystals grow around him while he said it, and the way his eyes changed color, it was just like-”
“King Sombra,” finished Celestia softly.
Silence fell over them then, but it didn’t last very long before Luna spoke again. “Sister, you told me about what happened when you first met Lex, at that disastrous meeting where he demanded you abdicate for both of us in favor of him.” Celestia nodded, already knowing where this was going but too tired to interrupt. “You recognized him as having King Sombra’s power then, but when Lex attacked you it was with his own magic, not the dark magic of the evil king’s horn.”
“He did become a shadow in order to escape,” noted Celestia.
Luna came and sat down across from her then. “I know, but he still relied more on his own power than on the dark magic he’d acquired. But now…now he’s using those black crystals so easily and possibly dealing in curses as well. All of that after only having King Sombra’s horn for a few months.” A look of concern spread across her features then, as she finally said what Celestia knew she’d been leading up to. “He’s growing stronger, sister. His command of the dark magic alone is beginning to approach King Sombra’s level of ability, and with his other powers-”
“I know, sister,” interrupted Celestia with a sigh, closing her eyes wearily.
Luna’s concerns weren’t groundless, she knew. When they’d originally gotten word of King Sombra’s depredations in the Crystal Empire, she and Luna had been away from their castle. Thinking that their foe was a mere rebel unicorn, they’d elected to head straight there and confront him, rather than going to collect the Elements of Harmony. It was a decision that had very nearly led to disaster…in fact, it had led to disaster, since without their strongest weapon the victory they’d attained had been pyrrhic.
Even that achievement had been very hard won. King Sombra’s dark magic had been mighty enough to allow him to meet them on the field of battle as an equal. Against a foe that could wield magic on a scale to match their own, only the fact that it had been a two-on-one fight had let them prevail, barely managing to seal him within a prison of frozen time that they’d known would one day come undone. Worse, their foe – unable to stop them from confining him – had actually expanded their final spell, causing it to envelop the entirety of the Crystal Empire and bring it into stasis with him. All of that with his dark magic alone.
That Twilight and her friends – with a little help from Cadance, Shining Armor, and Spike – had been able to do what she and Luna hadn’t been able to and finally destroy King Sombra once and for all was something Celestia still considered to be a miracle. But it was a miracle she’d been willing to bet everything on, even if the decision to stand aside and allow her student to face such a powerful foe had caused her a great deal of guilt and anxiety at the time. In hindsight it had been the right decision, but at the time she’d barely been able to hide how nervous she’d felt, worried that she might have doomed one of the ponies she cared most about.
Fortunately, it hadn’t turned out that way, and Twilight had fulfilled the destiny that by that point had been very clear to Celestia and Luna, becoming an alicorn herself shortly after saving the Crystal Empire. But Twilight wasn’t here now, having returned to that other world – Everglow – on another adventure. And if Lex Legis, a pony who had openly stated that he wanted to rule all of Equestria, gained complete mastery of his predecessor’s dark magic in addition to the other powers he’d already attained while Equestria’s greatest defender was away…
As if hearing her thoughts, Luna continued. “Sister, we came here because we were concerned about the evil artifact that Mihr alerted us to. But now we know that Lex is wielding it, apparently on the behalf of this ‘Night Mare’ goddess of his.” Celestia heard the catch in Luna’s voice as she said that name, and could guess what it was about, but let it go. The last thing she wanted was to touch on the topic of Luna’s own desire for godhood again. “First dark magic, now a weapon of great power and great evil. We can’t simply ignore this.”
“And what should we do, then?” asked Celestia tiredly, opening her eyes and giving Luna a resigned look. “Publicly condemn him for the crimes of defending Equestria from monsters, feeding the hungry, and healing the wounded?” She shook her head. “We sent him here because we were hoping that it would appease his ambition, and that he would make good friends in the process. Based on what we’ve been told, it sounds like it’s working; we know he was devastated when those ponies he sent into the city didn’t come back…”
She stopped speaking then, overcome with a wave of guilt at how horribly Vanhoover had suffered while she and everypony else had carried on, ignorant of what was happening. The desperation, the fear, the death. So many innocent lives lost, or worse, twisted to become monsters that preyed on the ponies that had been their friends and neighbors. It was enough to make her wonder if perhaps Lex was right, and he was better suited to rule.
Luna gave her a sympathetic look. “I hope you’re right, sister. Truly, I do. But if not, then we might be allowing him to become the greatest enemy we’ve ever faced. And we still don’t know what to do when we meet with him in a few hours.”
Sighing again, Celestia stood up, walking over to where Trotsworth had placed their luggage, sifting through the bags and suitcases until she’d found what she was looking for. “The surest way to destroy an enemy is to make them your friend. I’m certain that Lex wants to do good. If we could just find out why he keeps turning to darkness to do it, then maybe we could convince him that he doesn’t need to.”
Luna walked over to her, looking at the papers held aloft in Celestia’s telekinetic aura. “And you still think that the answer is in there? You’ve been reading those the entire trip here.”
Celestia nodded. “I know, but we still have a little time, and I can’t think of any other way to try and learn more about him.” She shuffled the pages as she spoke, her eyes skimming their contents in search of new insights.
“I hope you’re right,” admitted Luna as she went back to the window, looking out it as she made another minute adjustment to the moon’s position, “for all our sakes.”
Celestia didn’t answer, her attention completely focused on the records of the brief time that Lex Legis had spent at her School for Gifted Unicorns as a colt.
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There's something about butlers in stories that I enjoy so much. Mainly due to them remaining so calm no matter the situation and Trotsworth fits the bill.
Joking aside,it is interesting to see Celestia even consider that Lex is right. While there are merits to her ruling Equestria, it is hard to deny the consequences that her inaction has wrought upon her little ponies.
Plus, her goal to send Lex here has been a mixed bag. He made friends, yes but he lost them due to his mistakes so making new ones will be harder. Did coming here temper his ambitions? Doubtful, if not stoked it even further so as to prevent such a tragedy from occuring again.
Still, I wonder if it is wise to use the record of Lex's time at her school, especially if Lex's old teacher was the one who wrote it. Dredging up his past is a quick way to getting stonwalled.
But given the fact that Lex has both Sombra's dark magic as well as Everglow magic, I guess Celestia is somewhat desperate to get anything she could use.
Addition:How did Celestia know that Lex even attended her school since as far as I can recall, he attended and subsequently left it prior to him being trapped in the Crystal Empire.
Fear and pride make a powerful combination in getting things done, but of course the butler does it.
Lexs school records. Loner, High Achieving, Quiet, Few Friends, Most Likely To Cause a Coup And Rule As An Accountant.
Im starting to think that the 'nice pony princesses' might have a blindspot.
Its true that 'evil king umbra' did know 'dark and evil' shadow magic. And that so far he is the only other pony the princesses had met that could use it... besides themself, since they learned it in case Sombra returned. Dont know how they learned it though. They passed that knowledge on to Twilight as well... so obviously 'good' ponies can learn it...
But Faust forbid that someone re-discover this type of magic on their own, outside of their guidance.
"He taught himself a specific type of magic that we have experience with being used by a bad pony = HE must also be evil".
Which is either ignorant, or paranoia.
All magic can be used for good or bad. Just because shadow magic have a dark presentation to itself, does not mean its any less good than other types of magic.
Dark magic is like a kitchen knife.
Its a tool. Just not a very well known tool in this case.
Its a tool that indeed could be used to hurt others. But I have also never seen a top kitchen chef... or any chef for that matter, who did NOT use a knife ever.
Well, I'll give her this if nothing else, her school has one heck of a records department, given she was able to dig up Lex's 1000 year old records.
Also, Twi and co going back to Everglow; reference to another fic, or just convenient story excuse to keep the EoH out of things? Or both? If the first or last, link plz?
9389850
To be fair, this story does run at least partly on the Pathfinder system, and there are spells which don't really have anything other than a what would be considered an only evil use...at least until a creative player finds one.
9389639 Trotsworth is the butler we all wish we had.
Insofar as Celestia goes, I see her benevolence as keeping her humble; from what we've seen in the show, she exemplifies that trait (and many others) without taking it to an extreme. As such, in the face of a major disaster that she not only failed to prevent but didn't even know about - particularly where Lex ended up being the one to turn things around - she can't help but have a moment of doubt. But I suspect that this is more an issue of guilt and horror than any genuine desire to step down in his favor. Celestia is certainly an open-minded pony, but she nevertheless rejected Lex's call for her to step aside so that he could remake Equestria. That says to me that this isn't recalcitrance or arrogance on her part, so much as it is a fundamental disagreement of philosophy between herself and Lex. She thinks that he has good intentions, but that he's going about it the entirely wrong way. Lex likely thinks the same about her and Luna.
It's questionable if Celestia will wave Lex's old records in his face, though. More likely, she's trying to find some insight into his character that will let her get through to him and convince him that her way is better. She almost certainly knows that people tend to be shaped by their childhood, and this is a window into Lex's. Given that she wants him to be a friend, rather than an enemy the way King Sombra was, she's almost certainly a little desperate. What she finds, and what she does with what she finds, will be interesting to see.
I'd intended to write more about the logistics of Celestia locating the records of Lex's time at her school, but I had a hard time working that into the structure of this chapter. Eventually I decided to put it off; hopefully I'll be able to come back to it in short order.
9389847 A skilled servant/personal assistant can be a major asset. Hence why River is preparing to
sacrificeoffer Feather Duster to Lex.And it looks like I don't need to bother writing up Lex's records now that you've summarized them so nicely!
9390077
Now I'm imagining it to be due to an archivist at the school reading about Lex's exploits in the papers before they recall seeing the name before and manage to sift through a millennia's worth of school yearbooks(or their historical equivalent) or something. If it is, I bet if there was ever a school picture of him, it'd be near identical to current him, save for the horn that is.
9389850 I have to compliment you for this post. The fact that both Celestia and Twilight were able to use the same magic as King Sombra is something that a lot of people seem to forget. Kudos to you for remembering that!
I have a half-written post (the second blog entry about Lex's use of curses, as a matter of fact) that includes a discussion as to what "dark magic" actually is based on how they talk about it in the show. I really need to get around to finishing that and posting it. I will say that, if we follow Occam's razor, then it seems likely that while Celestia and Twilight can use the same type of magic as King Sombra, they can't do so nearly as extensively or as powerfully as he can. This is an assumption, of course, but that's why we're using a heuristic to guide our reasoning: we don't have anything more concrete to go with.
Based on that line of thinking, Celestia can raise a few black crystals herself, and maybe perform one or two other, minor tricks with it...and Twilight can do even less, essentially just uncovering a hidden passage (which took her visible effort to accomplish). Neither seems like they'd be able to raise small mountains of black crystal the way we saw King Sombra do in The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1 (season five, episode twenty-five), place a curse on the whole of the Crystal Empire to be imprisoned along with him, or apparently place some sort of mental gap on all of its residents. Let alone turn into shadow-form (even if the actual dialogue of The Crystal Empire - Part 1 (season three, episode one) made it sound like that was something Celestia and Luna did to him, rather than an ability of his; that makes no sense, of course, so I'm quietly ignoring that), somehow create a large number of mind-control helmets (which we see in that alternate future again), create magical traps that attack a trespasser via their worst fears, etc.
Now, given that King Sombra was apparently able to constitute a major threat to Equestria with just his dark magic at his disposal (he took on Celestia and Luna together and not only survived, but managed to take the Crystal Empire down with him and staged an eventual comeback), and at least Celestia was able to learn how to do some of what he did, why did she not bother learning how to use more of that power? Well, obviously because it was "dark magic." Okay, but that's not really a reason: why is dark magic bad?
We obviously can't turn to the old "it corrupts the user" chestnut, because that hasn't happened to either Celestia or Twilight. I suppose we could include some sort of reasoning about "it does corrupt the user, and that's why we never see either of them use it again," but that makes it hard to accept that Celestia would use it purely for demonstrative purposes, or that she wouldn't warn Twilight about that. So we can write that one off. So what's left?
Well, let's take a closer look at the uses of it that we've seen in the show, as outlined above: it raises black crystals that seem to rend the ground asunder (and likely any people it happens to hit as it does so) when they're raised, it turns the user into a malevolent-looking shadow that (having no physical form) is inherently isolating from the people around you, it lays down curses, it can be used for mind-manipulation in ways that seem to be purely negative (mind-control, manifesting fears, and manipulating memories to cause semi-permanent apathy), concealing passageways (an aspect of duplicity, if not distrust), and even locking down teleportation is a form of restriction/imprisonment.
In other words, King Sombra's magic is "dark magic" because its effects are entirely based around hurting and manipulating other people. It literally can't be used for other purposes, at least not directly. It might be possible to come up with a creative application that indirectly helps someone - the big example being that you can use it on monsters or villains to try and stop them from hurting people - but it's never going to be able to do anything restorative or empowering. Like many classical forms of "evil" magic, it literally can't be used to create anything (save for twisted black crystals that damage the local environment) or improve things. It's a destructive force, in other words, and that's all it can be.
Given that, if we accept that utilizing magic is something that requires practice and dedication, then no wonder Twilight and Celestia haven't made any effort to try and improve their ability to utilize dark magic. It's completely antithetical to everything they believe in! My guess is that Celestia explored it a little bit after King Sombra was gone in order to try and prepare for his eventual return, but abandoned her study of it in short order when she realized just how repugnant it was to her values. Twilight seems to have put it out of her thoughts entirely, and my guess is that she came to the same conclusion.
Now, there are other kinds of "dark magic" out there - the term tends to get thrown around a lot - including those that do inherently corrupt the user (remember how Twilight called Rarity's "inspiration manifestation"-based changes dark magic in the episode of the same name (season four, episode twenty-three)?), but this isn't one of them. It can very well be characterized as "just a tool." But it's a tool with only one purpose: bringing harm to others. It's a gun rather than a knife, in other words, and quite clearly not something that Princess Celestia approves of.
...and now it's being wielded by an aggressive, unpleasant pony who has designs on world domination. So it's really not that hard to imagine why she'd be concerned.
9390101 You're definitely thinking along the right track.
9389948 We know that Equestria has numerous minor magic used throughout their society (and often, I suspect, filling in a lot of the background for how a lot of things like appliances work; remember how in School Raze - Part 1 (season eight, episode twenty-five) Fluttershy casually mentioned that the loss of magic meant that their saddlebags were no longer keeping their cupcakes cold?). As such, I suspect that things like preserving paper from the ravages of age is one of the commonplace conveniences (hence the "restricted section" of the library that Celestia and Luna took Twilight and Sunset Shimmer to in Forgotten Friendship; it was so old that the mechanical catalogue was falling apart, but the books themselves seemed to be fine, if a bit dusty). So that's "how" those records could still exist. As for where, and how they were located...I'm going to keep mum on that, just because I planned to write about that before I realized I couldn't fit it into this chapter, and I might still be able to squeeze it in later.
The reference to Twilight going back to Everglow was something I've been dancing around for a while, and it seemed appropriate to come out and mention it directly here. It's a reference to where things seemed to be going in Book and Stars, though the fic itself ended before going that far (unless someone commissions David Silver to write more of it).
Celestia and Luna are struggling over Lex and yet they really need to sit down and have a good long talk with him to really understand him.
9390079
I just paraphrased my primary school report from almost 50 years ago.
9390242 I suspect that even getting him to sit down and talk with them would be fraught with difficulty. Lex has made his position clear to the princesses, and I suspect he doesn't feel that getting into any sort of personal exchange would be worthwhile. Worse, even if they can understand each other, that doesn't mean that they'll be able to come to a place of agreement.
Good to see Celestia is weighing Lex's actions carefully. Of course, they don't know about the curses yet. I could actually see them agreeing to the idea in principal (the stuff Celestia's done to Equestria's worst enemies is far worse than what Lex has done with his curses) but probably they would want to hammer out a lot of rules on when curses can be used. Lex is pretty good at managing rulesets.
And the Sisters are still acting with incomplete info in other ways, namely they aren't aware that Xiriel was going to great lengths to conceal the state of Vanhoover from the rest of the nation.
Good manners.
Very good manners.
9390895 Celestia and Luna don't know for sure that Lex is using curses, but they're clearly suspicious. More than that, they're concerned that he's growing into King Sombra's original level of power, which would mean that Lex gains the ability to do everything that his predecessor could...in addition to his other magical abilities.
As for whether or not Celestia and Luna could find Lex's use of curses palatable...that's iffy. I see them as being morally opposed to the existence of something that can only be used to cause misery and suffering, which is sort of what a curse does. They prefer that behavior modification be done with positive reinforcement, rather than negative, and seem to reserve the use of other forms of punishment (such as imprisonment) only for the worst of the worst, when no redemption seems possible (remember, Celestia decided - apparently completely on her own - to have the Mane Six reform Discord rather than leaving him petrified indefinitely). The idea that Lex would use curses on other ponies, as punishment for wrongdoing on their part, strikes me as something that she couldn't in good conscience support.
Likewise, even if they were willing to sign off on the idea, provided that it was subject to strict rules, Lex would never agree to that. Not because he doesn't see the value of a structured format for when and how criminal penalties should be applied, but because he'd bristle at the idea of the Royal Sisters inserting themselves into the process. He doesn't regard their authority as being legitimate, and so would never accept them having to approve what he's doing, since that would necessarily imply that he's subordinate to them. Lex doesn't even regard the Night Mare - his own goddess - as having authority over him, viewing their relationship as being entirely based around their transactional agreement.
As for Xiriel, I think that they might be aware (now) of how the devil was concealing its actions, if for no other reason than Nosey apparently had a tit-for-tat trade of information with Princess Luna, and she was best positioned to know (due to how the devil tormented her).
9390935 Piggy isn't exactly a model of propriety, even if the rest of River's staff make an effort to be.
9392160
Those are typos.
9392801
So they are. Fixed now.