38 - Less Than Perfect
“So what was it like when you saw Lex-”
“Actually, I didn’t know his name at the time. Didn’t know it at all until you told it to me.”
“Er, right. Well, now you do. So, what was it like when you saw Lex fighting against that dragon one-on-one?”
“It was…scary, I guess?”
“Uh-huh. Anything else?”
“Not really, no.”
Nosey smiled politely as she wrote down the responses from the earth pony stallion she was interviewing, even as she groaned inwardly. It was against journalistic ethics to embellish the responses that a subject gave, so there was little she could do except interview someone else. “Well, thank you for your time.”
“Um, do you not want my name?”
“Oh no,” smiled Nosey, trying not to scoff. “Trust me, that won’t be necessary.” There was no way she was going to use lame quotes like that in her forthcoming epic!
Not for the first time, she cast a longing look over at where Sonata was cradling Lex’s mangled form. She’d tried to interview the grieving mare before, but that insensitive oaf Tender Tree – she’d overheard Sonata say her name – had dragged Nosey away before she could get an answer to a single question. That might not have been so bad if Tender had then consented to being interviewed herself, but instead she’d given Nosey an earful about “showing some basic pony decency” before immediately going back to Sonata’s side.
Worse, that seemed to have upset quite a few of the ponies that were hanging around, and most of them were now refusing to be interviewed. It was bad enough that Nosey was honestly beginning to consider trying to track down some of the ponies that had run off as soon as that entangling spell had ended.
She was about to go and try to talk to Sonata again, busybody pegasus or not, when she heard several ponies yell and point towards the forest’s edge. Following their hooves, Nosey immediately broke into a smile as she recognized Fireflower, along with several other ponies, emerging from the treeline, all of them leaning heavily on each other. Now these were worthwhile subjects for an interview! In fact, if those other ponies were “araneas” – the spider-pony siblings that he’d mentioned before – then this might be the cherry on her big scoop!
Nosey was about to run over to them when Tender flew by her, putting herself directly between the approaching group and everypony else. Standing on her hind legs, she held out her forelegs warily, clearly indicating that they should stop or else. “You lot hold on right there!” she declared firmly. “It was your fault we almost got eaten by that dragon!”
Nosey blinked at Tender’s tirade, not sure what was happening. She knew that these ponies were most likely the spiders that had been attacking the city, but there was no way that Tender should know that. But what else could she be mad at them for?
Whatever was going on, Tender wasn’t the only pony who seemed to be upset. Several other ponies, their expressions dark and angry, ran to join Tender, causing the exhausted-looking arrivals to shrink back, clearly nervous. One of them, a purple-coated mare, muttered “told you so.”
But just when it looked like violence was going to erupt, Sonata’s voice cut through the tension. “Stop it! Tender, let them through!”
Tender looked behind her, clearly caught off-guard. “But these are the ponies who led us here! And I’m pretty sure that they used that weird magic to make the grass get all grabby and tie us up!”
Sonata shook her head, still not moving from where she was attending to Lex. “That one,” she pointed at Fireflower, “is a friend of mine, and went to go get help for Lex! Let them through RIGHT NOW!”
Tender immediately stepped back, as did everypony else, allowing the group to stagger towards where Sonata was. Surreptitiously, Nosey crept forward also, making sure she had a front-row seat to whatever was about to happen. Scribbling furiously, she watched as Fireflower nodded towards a white stallion with a pink mane and tail, who then leaned closer to Lex and started chanting…
The return to consciousness was distinctly unlike how Lex usually awoke. Rather than the abrupt shift from sleep to wakefulness, he regained awareness slowly. Dimly, as though through a fog, he realized that he was in a lot of pain, but that it was receding somehow. Rather than gradually diminishing, something was causing it to ebb in regular quantities at periodic intervals. It was an alien enough sensation that he began to actively fight to reach full awareness.
“…aking up!”
The voice was a familiar one, and the realization came with a burst of emotions – all of them unusually warm – that made him fight harder, realizing that he wanted to see that voice’s owner quite badly.
He felt a hoof on his chest, and his pain level lowered again, and now he was able to open his eyes. A teary pair were looking back at him, and for a moment he was captivated by them. Then he remembered everything that had happened, sitting up abruptly.
“Wha-” His attempt to ask what had happened was cut off as Sonata threw her forelegs around him, almost knocking him back over with her embrace.
“Lex!” Her voice was thick with relief, causing a cheer to go up from the ponies around him, all of them laughing and celebrating. Next to him, a stallion with a pink mane was chanting a spell, and that earned Lex’s undivided attention. When he reached out a moment later, Lex knocked his hoof away with a growl, preparing to deal with whatever this new threat was…
“No! No, it’s okay!” Sonata interjected quickly. “He’s using magic to heal you!”
Lex’s only outward reaction to Sonata’s words was that his eyes widened slightly. Inwardly, however, he cringed at the revelation. The fact that he’d been injured so badly that he’d need others to tend to his injuries was a testament to just how badly he’d bungled that fight.
And there was no doubt in his mind that he had bungled it. From mistaking the nature of the dragon’s breath weapon to not knowing that it could cast spells to having no idea that it had some sort of special resistance to magic, a multitude of factors had been outside of his initial projections. The result had been his humiliating need to be rescued from near-death, all while a crowd looked on…and being rescued, to say nothing of dying in combat if not, was unworthy of the strong leader that Lex wanted to be.
True, he had managed to kill the creature and save everypony, despite the numerous gaps in his knowledge, but that thought brought him little comfort. It wasn’t enough to achieve his goals; they also had to be achieved in the proper manner, or they were worthless. Getting a perfect score on a test held no merit if he simply guessed every answer and they all happened to be right, and likewise defeating a dragon meant little if the ponies he wanted to save needed to save him.
The worst part was knowing how close he’d come to the victory he’d wanted. If only he had the realized that the dragon’s breath weapon was a solvent rather than flames! All of the clues had been there. The melted stretches of railroad track. Fireflower and his siblings being spontaneously brought over from Everglow. All of those should have painted a picture that he wasn’t dealing with an Equestrian dragon. But he had lacked the imagination to figure it out, and this new shame had been the price for it, lying helpless on the ground while someone else deigned to rescue him.
Gently but firmly separating himself from Sonata, Lex climbed onto all fours. Doing so very nearly caused him to collapse, as he still had a considerable number of injuries, but he managed it. It was in deference to his wounded pride that he swept a baleful glare across the assembled ponies – which to his considerable irritation had little impact on their spontaneous merry-making – and ended with him looking darkly at Fireflower and the other ponies huddled close to him.
Feeling his siblings tense at the cold look, Fireflower licked his suddenly-dry lips. “Um, these are my siblings…the ones I told you about before,” he started nervously. “This is Rockwood, Breezyleaf, Shadowvine, and Brightrose.” Each sibling nodded in turn, trying to stay calm. A tense silence followed as Lex continued to look them over, and it was clear to Fireflower that he was considering what to do with them.
“Did I mention that Brightrose was the one who healed you, just now?” Fireflower added, hoping that would count for something.
Lex grit his teeth at the reminder. “Do I need to mention that your siblings terrorized Tall Tale for days? Or that they led all of the ponies here into a trap?”
It was amazing how quickly the crowd of ponies around them quieted down to listen to the exchange. All but one.
“Hang on just a moment there,” Tender Tree stepped forward, completely oblivious to the tension hanging in the air. “I get what you mean by them having led us into a trap, but what’s all this about them having terrorized the townsfolk? The only thing we were afraid of was those magic spiders.”
“I can answer that one!” Nosey stepped forward, pleased with how all eyes turned to her.
“Um, Nosey,” began Sonata. “I’m not, like, sure that’s a good-”
“It’s because these ponies are the spiders that were attacking the city! They can change from ponies into giant spiders,” Nosey proclaimed with a flourish. It was clear that the truth was about to come out anyway, so why not score some points with the public by showing that she was a trustworthy news source?
The other ponies glanced at each other, clearly skeptical. But again it was Tender who piped up, her eyes wide with alarm. “You mean like changelings?”
That got a reaction from the crowd, as they started to pull back in fear at the pronouncement. Everyone had read about the dangerous creatures that had attacked Princess Cadance’s wedding not too long ago.
Sonata, seeing that things were going south, stepped forward. “Hold on! I’ve been friends with this guy,” she pointed a hoof at Fireflower, “for a while now, and I can tell you that he’s one of the nicest ponies I’ve ever met! He doesn’t want to do anything bad, and I’m willing to bet that his brothers and sisters are the same!”
“But those attacks in town…” started Tender uncertainly.
“We feel terrible about that,” spoke up Breezyleaf. “Please believe me, we didn’t do that because we wanted to. It was because the dragon had taken our brother hostage,” she waved a hoof at Brightrose, “and said that it would kill him if we didn’t attack your town, and lead you all here. That’s the only reason we did it, I swear.”
“But leaving town was the mayor’s idea,” called one of the ponies in the crowd, clearly having realized that something didn’t add up.
“She was under the dragon’s spell.” This time it was Rockwood who spoke, his level voice carrying across the crowd. “It used magic on her to make her do what it wanted.” Nearby, Sonata nodded confidently.
Nosey’s pencil scribbled over her pad furiously. “Wait, so this dragon could use magic?” Such a thing was unheard of! This just got better and better!
“Yes, it could. It did during our fight,” sighed Lex. He could see which way this was going. The frightened looks that the crowd had been giving Fireflower’s family were changing into ones of sympathy, and as far as he was concerned that was the most appropriate response. Although capitulating to the dragon’s demands wasn’t what he could have done if it had taken a hostage, he couldn’t blame them for having done so. Not when they’d already lost someone dear to them. “It also killed their sister before it took their brother.”
Nopony missed the way the araneas winced at Lex’s words. It was enough to win over the remaining members of the assembled ponies, with every face now registering compassion.
Seeing that was enough to let Shadowvine work up her courage. “We’re…” She trailed off as everyone looked at her, letting her gaze fall to the ground for a moment before forcing herself to meet their eyes and continue. “We’re sorry for everything we’ve done!” Her voice was shaky as she yelled the words, needing to force them out before looking down again as soon as she’d finished speaking.
Tender, somehow having become the crowd’s spokespony, looked over Fireflower and his family, then Lex, then Sonata, then Nosey, and back again. “So…it’s all over, then? I mean, no more dragons or attacks or evacuating the city?”
“It’s over,” replied Lex. His tone was one of finality. “You can all go home.”
The crowd erupted into cheers again, recapturing its earlier jubilation. Tender Tree rushed towards the araneas, who tensed at the sudden approach, but before they had a chance to react she had started to grasp their hooves, shaking them in camaraderie. “Well in that case, let me be the first to welcome you all to our fair city! Of course, you’ve obviously all been there for days, but you haven’t had an official welcome yet, so it’s time somepony made up for that! First, let me give you some tips about the best places to stay while you’re here. My sister runs the nicest bed-and-breakfast this side of Equestria, and you’ll absolutely flip for her flapjacks! Haha, flip for flapjacks. You see what I did there?”
The crowd was starting to make its way back towards town, and Tender didn’t break her stride, keeping up a constant stream of dialogue as she started to herd the siblings back with them. Behind her, Nosey hurried after them, peppering them with questions as she kept her pencil and notepad at the ready.
Sonata and Lex watched them go, the former with a smile on her face, the latter with his usual sour expression. Finally she turned to him, grinning. “We should probably go back there too. I bet they’re gonna have a parade in your honor, Mr. Dragonslayer.”
Lex gave her the barest of glances, and then he began walking towards Tall Tale without another word.
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I think this might be the final step to the darkside for Lex. It's not realy about the ponies he saved anymore. It's about he needed them. And he hates that.
7722933
At least the dark side has cookies!
And now the typo hunt resumes... with giant space lasers! Hope they work.
Just a slight technicality, but Lex has not been mangled. I would say "perforated" or something on those lines. Mangled usually means their limbs and/or their body are bent at odd angles, meaning broken bones. From the description you gave us, no bones were broken, but he did have lots of holes in him, hence the perforated.
That feels awkward to me. Maybe try "and sat up abruptly."?
Minor nitpick, but I think that "attend" should be "tend".
I don't think that "even" is necessary.
Never underestimate an enemy. Always be prepared for the unexpected, then you will never be surprised. Lex needs to learn this.
But when at first you don't succeed, take what you learned and try again! Although in this case, that should not be attempted. Don't need a second dragon about.
Attention hog.
Well, at least this explains Nosey's lack of an appearance last chapter. Wonder if she has a sibling named Blabbermouth that rubbed off on her cause blurting out really important(and juicy ) info isn't something I'd expect of a reporter. Then again, she's been holding it in for a while.
Oh well, at least she can release the news to the rest of Equestria...after Tall Tale gets its railroad patched up.
I hope Lex realises before he gets too far towards town, that he is only assuming that the highly magically resistant creature with all those alchemical ingreadients making up its body, is laying there dead, where anyone can come along and do whatever with it.
At least not being in Everglow somone wont have a potion of ressurection or such. Then again, having such a potion would get several entities very intrested in you?
7723075 But Lex is in it for the nookie. So you can take that cookie...
Thank you Bloodhound Gang.
7723091
No, according to the entry at dictionary.com, "mangled" just means "to injure severely, disfigure, or mutilate by cutting, slashing, or crushing" or "to spoil; ruin; mar badly." I think those definitions fit just fine for the state Lex was in.
I can see where you're coming from with this, but although I'm not sure if there's a name for this particular literary technique, the use of listing an abrupt reaction to a thought or new piece of information is one I've seen before.
I wasn't convinced initially, but on further thought I've come to agree with you here. Changed.
Hm, I think so too. Changed.
Strictly speaking, Lex has learned this - he won that fight, after all. He's just upset because he doesn't think that he's mastered the skill sufficiently, since he didn't get the victory he wanted.
No, but I'm sure there are plenty of problems in the future. Heck, just look at everything Twilight has had to deal with.
That's our Nosey!
You know, I almost didn't bring Tender back. I'm glad I did, now.
7722933
But is that really a bad thing?
Lex figured out that something bad was going to happen in Tall Tale - which wasn't even his city - and took it upon himself to fix it. He fought with everything he had to save strangers, even though it almost killed him, and doesn't expect to receive anything in return from them for having done so. By any measure, his actions have been entirely selfless. Does that really become "the final step to the dark side" because he's angry and embarrassed that he almost lost?
7723710 I tried to make it clear in this chapter, Nosey blabbed the information because she saw that it was about to come out anyway (e.g. someone was about to tell the people that this group of ponies were actually the giant spiders that they were afraid of), so she might as well get to be the one that did it.
7723711 Well, you can't really have a potion of resurrection, since resurrection is a 7th-level spell and potions can only contains spells of up to 3rd level.
7723811
Im sure I saw something about a L20 Alchemist and monthly Philosophers Stones. Just need to dig up the various parts for it.
So the big difference between rich and poor in Everglow, is who can afford a Youth potion yearly, or Greater Ressurection, and who is used as ingredients for that magic?
7723815
Meh, that's not really the same. It's using a class ability to make a wondrous item to add to a potion.
Notwithstanding that people aren't an ingredient for that magic, yes. The fact that the rich can afford magic to reliably snatch them back from death, defeat disease, cure their wounds, etc. whereas the poor have to either scrape their coins together or beg for charity is just one of the ways that a world with d20 magic is quite a bit different from the pseudo-medieval trappings usually placed on them. You assassinated the king? Great, he's back the next day, and really pissed off.
7723808 Not a bad thing at all. And I'm not saying that Lex is about to go off the rails evil. But I think it's safe to say that he's not so much mad that he almost lost so much as mad that other ponies are helping him, and not the other way around. He's angry at a perceived loss of power. It seems like it's a fine line with him, the balance between having power and using it well. In the end his own code of ethics seems to largely exist to justify his lust for power. Lex loves power, and as he's shown with Sonata he will go to truly terrible lengths to protect what he loves. Just a few thoughts. I could be WAY off base. I frequently am.
7723968 I appreciate hearing your thoughts! Insightful feedback is what I (like every other author) crave!
You're right that Lex is mad that other ponies are helping him, but what I was trying to make clear is that he's taking that as an (indirect) indictment of his own sense of self-worth. Lex wants to do great things - and in order to be "great things" they need external validation - so as to justify his own existence to himself. He thinks that what happened here (as in, needing someone else to save him from dying) undercuts that; that he can't be a great leader who takes care of others if he can't even take care of himself.
7723790
Cookie Monster is with me, we shall eat them all!
7724047 Understand that I loves me the story. And Lex is a very engaging and relateable guy. He has two big vices, he loves Sonata, and he loves power. He wants to help ponies. He wants to be the good pony. He's shown time and again that he's very comfortable with setting aside what he wants to protect what he loves. Maybe way off-base.
Also John Smith in EQG-land! Gotta love John Smith, he's not just some random anonymous guy on the internet, he's one very specific anonymous guy from the internet.