408 - Weal and Woe
“C’mon, Lex! We did it for you! This way we can still be together!”
“You know, a lot of guys would be grateful that they had a bunch of hot girls willing to fight to be with them! Ever think about that?”
“Would it help if we say that we’re sorry? Like, really reeeally sorry?”
“It’s not like you had a better plan! You were just going to dump us because your nagging goddess said so! You should be thanking us!”
From within their cages, Sonata and Aria continued to pepper him with their torrent of pleas, assertions, and accusations. It was a litany that had continued unbroken for the past several minutes. But Lex continued to ignore them, focusing instead on the spell he was casting.
This particular bit of divine magic – the last such goddess-given spell he’d be able to use today, after the healing magic he’d used on himself – was a reparative enchantment. But unlike the restorative spells that he’d used on himself prior to defeating Sonata and Aria, this one was meant to be used on inanimate objects. He’d last used it to restore Nosey’s broken glasses after he’d vanquished Xiriel, but the instance that was on his mind at the moment was from earlier, when he’d made use of it to repair the broken hull of C. Shell’s ship back in Tall Tale.
That particular undertaking had been large enough that he’d needed to channel additional power into the spell in order to make it function at the capacity he wanted. But in that case he’d simply needed to repair a crack that ran the length of the ship. What he was attempting to do now was several orders of magnitude greater: repairing an entire building.
Carefully feeding more power through himself and into the spell as he finished the necessary chanting and gestures, Lex touched a shadowy tendril to the wreckage surrounding them. He felt the augmented power discharge into the rubble, and a moment later he heard it shift, as though trying to pull itself together. In silent anticipation, he waited…
And then felt the spell break apart, extended too thin even with the additional power he’d given it.
For a moment, Lex simply regarded the unmoving debris in the wake of his failed attempt to undo the train station’s collapse. It wasn’t entirely surprising that it hadn't worked; his efficacy with the spells that the Night Mare had given him was far less than with the magic that he’d created for himself, or with the dark magic of his horn. He’d grown more proficient with it over time, of course – when he’d initially received his first smattering of divine magic back on Everglow, he’d struggled to handle the unusual new magic he’d been granted, to the point of occasionally losing control of it, resulting in a painful backlash as the magic had dispersed – but it was still by far the type of magic that he was least skilled with. Throwing additional quantities of raw power into the mix could only mitigate his lack of aptitude so much.
“And, you know what? You can totes have us work as maids too! Wouldn’t that be great? I bet we’d look, like, super cute in those uniforms!”
“This is mostly your fault anyway! If you’d just kept that Night Mare nag of yours happy, we wouldn’t even be in this mess! You owe us!”
Sighing, Lex knew that he couldn’t afford to dwell on the loss of the train station any further. Even if the pain in his leg – which was still there despite his incorporeal state – hadn’t been getting worse, the two idiots behind him needed to be dealt with. But first things first. Looking upward, Lex focused his telekinesis on removing the debris above them, starting to dig the girls out…
“Okay, so, I think that all went pretty well,” grinned Sonata as she climbed onto the station platform, the only part of the building to have survived.
“Of course you do,” muttered Aria, rolling her eyes as she flopped down next to the giant pile of food.
Sonata tilted her head, looking confused. “You don’t? Because I thought it all went according to plan. I mean, yeah, we didn’t expect him to totes drop a building on us, but you can’t make a sandwich without breaking some eggs, right?”
Aria sent a tired glare Sonata’s way. “Sometimes I swear you mess those sayings up on purpose,” she groaned. “And do you actually think Lex looks like he’s going to give us what we want?” She gestured to the far side of the ruins of the train station, where Lex – still in shadow-form – was digging his saddlebags out of the rubble. After he’d realized exactly what they were up to, he hadn’t said two words to them, which Aria took to be a bad sign.
Sonata apparently felt differently. “Aw, I bet he’s just mad because he didn’t think of it first,” she scoffed. “So yeah, he’ll do the whole ‘I sentence you both to be my love-slaves’ thing, and everything will be just fine.”
“Tell that to all of them,” snorted Aria.
Sonata blinked. “Huh? Who?”
Raising a hoof, Aria pointed behind Sonata. “Them.”
Turning, Sonata’s eyes widened as she beheld the crowd that had gathered the western edge of the ruins, drawn by the destruction of the camp’s only permanent structure. Slowly scanning the sea of faces, she couldn’t help but frown at how many of them were openly afraid. But at least this time they aren’t running away in terror, she sighed, remembering how only yesterday everypony had thought that Lex had totes lost it when that fight with the princesses had broken out. Focusing on that, she gave the crowd her best smile. “Hey everypony!” she called. “So, like, good news! What you just saw wasn’t, like, any sort of disaster or anything! It was just us – me, my sister, and Lex – all having a lovers’ quarrel!”
“I can’t believe you actually got that expression right,” muttered Aria from behind her.
Pausing just long enough to stick her tongue out at her sister, Sonata turned back to the crowd. “So, yeah, things might have gotten a teensy bit out of han-, er, hoof, but everything’s totes okay now!” She beamed, waiting for everyone to start chuckling and giving sighs of relief.
Except that didn’t happen. Instead, everypony just sort of glanced at each other, causing Sonata to frown again. “For realsies, you guys, it was just a little fight. I mean, who here hasn’t lost their temper and flattened a building before?”
Everypony in the crowd raised their hoof.
“Okay, okay, bad example,” admitted Sonata, before taking a deep breath. C’mon. Spokespony time here, she admonished herself gently. “Listen,” she started again, her voice taking a more serious tone. “We’ve all been here before. Something scary happens, it looks like it’s Lex’s fault, and I get up here and tell you that he’s not really a bad guy. And I know, you’re all getting tired of it. But this time…this time’s different because…because…” For a moment she floundered, only for a complete flash of inspiration to come out of nowhere. “Because Lex himself is, like, totes going to hold a celebration in honor of everypony who’s helped keep this place together!”
That got the reaction she was looking for. All of a sudden the downcast and anxious looks were replaced with surprise and curiosity. Seizing on the moment, she kept going. “It’s going to be just like when he made all that food for everypony, except completely different! Because this time instead of just making a lot of tasty treats and then not doing anything, Lex himself is going to say how much everyone here means to him! From all of you doctors who’ve helped out to River Bank and her serving ponies to those awesome kids and their animals” – she scanned the crowd for those foals then, sure that they’d boost what she was saying, but for some reason they didn’t seem to be there – “and, especially the Night Mare!” She nodded for emphasis. “Yeah, because, like, the Night Mare has been, like, super supportive of everything Lex has been doing. So she’ll totes get a super big thank you from him, along with all of you!”
“Sonata…”
“And it’s going to happen today, too! Real soon! Like, clear your afternoon plans!”
“Sonata.”
“In fact, you know what? You should all totes make, like, a holiday out of it! For realsies, break out the beanbag toss and some cards! Also, first dibs on the card games, because I’m not nearly as bad at that as everyone thinks! Come to think of it, we should have a contest-”
“Sonata!”
“Geez, what is it?” huffed Sonata as Aria’s nagging became more insistent. “I was just getting into-, oh.” Her complaints died as she turned around and saw Lex, still a shadow and telekinetically carrying his saddlebags, hovering over the platform and glaring at her, much to Aria’s consternation. Suddenly losing her enthusiasm, Sonata turned back to the crowd, somehow managing to keep her smile in place. “So, um, yeah! Go get ready, ‘cuz it’s gonna be great!”
Ending on what she hoped was a high note, she turned back to Lex and Aria, forcing herself to grin as she lowered her voice. “Okay, so, I know what you’re thinking, but I totes had this great idea-”
“Both of you,” interrupted Lex coldly, “follow me.” Without waiting for a reply from either of them, he turned and moved away from the crowd, toward the eastern end of the platform.
“Just so you know,” muttered Aria as she fell in beside Sonata, “if that little idea of yours made things worse, I’m throwing you under the bus.”
“Joke's on you!” snorted Sonata. “This place doesn’t even have buses!”
Aria rolled her eyes, but there was no time to reply as they followed Lex down off the platform and to the other side of the rubble. It wasn’t the same as being inside, or even putting an intact building between themselves and everyone else, but it at least afforded them some semblance of privacy. Turning back to them, Lex finally changed back to his normal body – bloody hoof and all – but although his eyes changed back to their normal color they didn’t lose their hard glare as he slung his saddlebags onto his back. “I can’t find the words,” he began abruptly, “to adequately describe how utterly ill-conceived, irrational, and dangerous your idea was.”
“Aw come on!” whined Sonata. “I think everypony here would be super happy if you said something nice to them!”
“I meant your idiotic plan to launch a rebellion and lose so that I’d enslave you!” hissed Lex furiously. “What could possibly have made you think that was a good idea?!”
“Why wouldn’t it be?” huffed Aria. “You did almost the exact same thing to me before, remember? When you brought me back after defeating Lirtkra and Monitor? You said-”
“I know what I said,” cut in Lex sharply. “And those two situations couldn’t be more dissimilar!” He took a step toward Aria then, and her unconcerned expression faded as she took a step back. “Since it wasn’t obvious,” hissed Lex, “let me make this clear: the reason I gave you a place here, despite your attempt on my life, was because you made it clear that you were acting under extreme duress and so could not be held responsible for your actions. That is not an excuse that either of you have now!”
“It is too!” protested Sonata. “I mean, doesn’t the fact that we’re both, like, head over hooves for you count for something?” She took a step closer to him then, heedless of the severe expression on his face. “We both love you, Lex, and we don’t want to lose you. That’s why we did what we did.”
For a moment it looked like her heartfelt plea wasn’t going to work, as Lex’s expression remained stony. But all of a sudden his anger seemed to evaporate, and he closed his eyes, his ears folding back. “I know,” he admitted. “And I love you both also.”
Sonata felt her heart soar with hope, and out of the corner of her eye she saw the same feeling written all over Aria’s face. “Then…!”
“But I can’t forgive what the two of you did.”
Lex’s words, delivered in a sorrowful tone, hit her like a punch in the stomach. “N-no way…you’re kidding, right?” A small voice, somewhere in the back of her mind, wondered if this was how he’d felt that time when she’d broken up with him, back when they were heading to Tall Tale.
“I’m not,” answered Lex, looking at the two of them with an unreadable expression. “This is serious, Sonata. It has to be. I can’t give Luna such a severe punishment for trying to overthrow me and then, the very next day, give my girlfriends a punishment with no real force or effect for what's essentially the exact same crime.”
“So what exactly are you saying?” sneered Aria. Or at least she tried to; her voice came out sounding stricken instead. “You’re going to go ahead and dump us, then?”
Lex shook his head slowly. “The two of you have proven to be reckless enough and dangerous enough that more drastic action is necessary. The very harshest that my government can legitimately inflict on another pony.” Letting out a slow breath, he drew himself upright, his expression hardening as he looked at them.
“As punishment for your crimes, I sentence you both to be permanently turned to stone.”
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Jeeze that's brutal. It's a really harsh punishment when the show does it, and it's really harsh here too. I guess in Pathfinder no time passes for the petrify-ee, so its not a torture, but permanently petrifying someone is pretty much the same as executing them.
This talk about punishment for overthrowing makes me wonder, does Lex think he should have been punished more for trying to overthrow the Sisters? Or does he just think their mercy and compromise is a sign that they are too weak to rule, since they didn't punish him appropriately?
Also, if Lex is punishing the girls by permanently petrifying them, I think that might disqualify them as a sacrifice to the Night Mare. A typical LE type would totally delay their petrification until he could break up with them in the ceremony, then petrify them, but Lex is too much of a stickler for that. I guess he can still break up with Nosey, but I really don't know if one brand-new relationship is going to satisfy the Night Mare.
I thought Lex would have to drop on them like a ton of bricks, but I didnt think he would take it quite so, literally.
Check the latest Flufflepuff animation.
The whiplash from the prior 3 Stooges-esque routine to the ending line made me wonder if I was really woozy from my meds but after a quick reread, all semblence of dizzyness vanished at the bombshell of a sentence.
Still, as harsh as it may sound, Lex is justified in his reasoning for his decision. The Sirens are entities with powers that can cause significant damage to Equestria as a whole and they used their power for ultimately selfish gains and expect to be 'rewarded' for their reckless actions. If Lex had gone through with their request, then it would show favoritism and be viewed as a tyrant...though turning his girls into stone will do that in the public eye anyways though we all know what Lex thinks of his reputation.
9903947
Other than Discord saying that he's still conscious when petrified in Keep Calm and Flutter On (season three, episode ten), I'm of the opinion that it goes without saying that being petrified means that you necessarily lose consciousness. You're not sealed inside stone, you're turned to stone, inside and out. While I don't think that tweets or similar communiques from the show staff are anywhere near being canon, I'll note that "Big" Jim Miller said the same thing about Cozy Glow, and by extension the other villains, in terms of the end of The Ending of the End - Part 2 (season nine, episode twenty-five).
Note, however, that petrifying someone is not killing them, which is the sort of extremely-minor-but-very-important distinction that Lex places a lot of emphasis on. Death allows the soul to go elsewhere, and potentially reach a new level of existence, whether as an outsider, undead creature, or something else. Being petrified means that your soul goes nowhere, robbing you of any possible future until you're turned back (though I'll confess to being not sure if destroying the resulting statute thoroughly enough could possibly be considered "dead"? Is someone still in that odd "neither alive nor dead" limbo if they're petrified and then disintegrated?).
Neither, because there's an unspoken aspect here that Lex nevertheless recognizes (and inherently presumes that everyone else recognizes too), which is the issue of political legitimacy. Everything Lex has done hinges on his idea that Celestia and Luna have demonstrated themselves to have lost any legitimate claim that they could make with regards to their fitness to rule Equestria, leaving Lex himself as the only legitimate governing authority. It's that legitimacy that gives him the right to pass judgment on others, while simultaneously holding that Celestia and Luna have no such authority over him (or, strictly speaking, anypony else). While I suppose you might be able to extract a grudging admission from Lex that they don't think themselves to be illegitimate – and so still think they're possessed of a right to defend their sovereignty and exercise the powers inherent thereof – that argument would last only as long as it took him to point out that he's explained to them exactly why they're unfit to govern, and they (or at least Celestia) refused to even engage him in a debate, dismissing his points entirely.
Lex doesn't think he should have been punished for rebelling against Celestia and Luna, in other words, because punishment is what you do to someone who's done something wrong, and he hasn't done anything wrong in trying to overthrow the alicorns. But Sonata and Aria have done something wrong in trying to overthrow him, even if it was for a sham reason. Now, that's just his take on the idea, of course, but Lex doesn't really have much respect for the idea of moral relativism; as far as he's concerned, his conceptual investigations into the philosophies underpinning his ideas of vice and virtue are objectively correct, and he's not afraid to get into a debate on the subject. Ironically, this makes what he's saying fit very well with the d20 System's concept of alignment...save for the fact that I suspect Lex would have some disagreements over what that system describes as being "good" and "evil."
Well, that gets into the question of whether Lex is meant to sacrifice his current relationships, or ever having a romantic relationship.
9904299 Needless to say, Lex takes his duties and responsibilities quite seriously. As he noted in a recent chapter, if he has to choose between love or duty, duty will win every time.
9905200 Sonata and even Aria can be fairly casual sometimes, or even most of the time, but Lex almost never is.
But as you note, Lex's decision here is the right one, at least according to his own standards. It's sad, and I suspect that he's far from pleased with this, but he's created a set of rules that govern how he goes about living his life and fulfilling his duties as a ruler, and he'll adhere to those no matter what...even if it costs him the loves of his life.
9906155 Yeah, that about sums it up.