54 - Looking to the Future
“So…what do we do now?”
Breezyleaf’s question caused silence to fall among the araneas for the first time in the last few hours. Glancing at each other, no one volunteered any thoughts about what their next move should be. Instead, there was a mute chorus of shrugs and shaking heads.
Leaning back in his chair, Fireflower tried to think about what the future held for himself and his siblings…but he just couldn’t. Not after everything that had happened.
Waterlily’s unexpected reappearance had been a shock that they were all still recovering from. But unlike almost everything else that had happened since they’d come here, this one had been joyous. After they’d finished crying together, the six of them had reluctantly ended their group hug and dragged themselves to a nearby table to sit down and talk.
This had swiftly drawn Busy Bee down on them, both for their having abandoned their kitchen duties and for how much noise they were making (“I’m going to need new soundproofing because of you lot!”). But upon seeing the teary faces of her errant employees and being told that their “long-lost” sister had come back – none of them had felt comfortable saying that Waterlily had actually died – Busy had relented, telling them to keep it down to a dull roar before she returned to the kitchen to let the six siblings continue their reunion.
The next few hours had them all listening to Waterlily tell them the circumstances of her return, before filling her in on what had happened after her…departure. This had then turned into the sort of raucous discussion that they’d always had before, with everyone – even Rockwood – chiming in with their thoughts and feelings on various things, with all of the teasing and laughter that always entailed.
Much to Fireflower’s chagrin, Waterlily had insisted on sharing the story of what had happened between him and Sonata with the others. The reactions had been, predictably enough, mixed. Shadowvine had been horrified (“Are you trying to get us all killed?!”) whereas Brightrose had been proud of him (“That took a seriously big pair, little brother.”). Rockwood had simply put a hoof on his shoulder in a silent show of support. Breezyleaf had been the most sympathetic, angrily wondering how “that awful mare” could do that to him, before worriedly asking if he was alright.
Although she seemed uncertain of his reassurances that he was fine, the funny thing was that he really did feel okay. What had happened with Sonata had hurt, but…somehow, he didn’t feel broken up over it. After all, he had already known going in how it was going to end up, so it wasn’t like he hadn’t expected her to turn him down.
But that wasn’t all of it. The way Fireflower felt right now, it was almost like…relief. Or maybe closure. It was as though everything that had happened in the last few hours, first with Sonata and then with Waterlily, had finally settled things that had needed to be taken care of.
No, not the last few hours. The last few days, he realized. Ever since they had been brought to this strange world, they hadn’t had a moment’s rest, beset by one disaster after another. Losing Waterlily. Being forced to do the dragon’s bidding. Wondering if the wizard that slew it would turn his wrath on them next. All of it had taken a severe toll on them.
It was only now, with the dragon dead, with Waterlily alive again, and with his feelings for Sonata resolved, that Fireflower felt like things had finally settled down to the point where he could start to feel at ease again. Looking around, he could see that same feeling on the faces of his brothers and sisters. That for the first time in what seemed like a long time, it felt like everything was okay.
“Well,” he spoke up, “I think that we should get some rest, and then get something to eat, and then…” He paused, before giving a shrug. “And then we take it from there.”
He couldn’t help smiling as he said it, and he saw that same smile reflected on his siblings’ faces, having heard his subtle emphasis on “we.” Slowly, they all stood up and started towards the stairs.
As they headed back towards their rooms, Brightrose added, “But when we do get some food, can we find a way to eat out? I don’t want to be stuck on kitchen duty with that slave-driver again.”
“Hear, hear!” echoed Shadowvine, bringing nods of assent from Rockwood and Breezyleaf.
Waterlily and Fireflower looked at each other in confusion. It took a lot to get Brightrose and Shadowvine to agree on anything, but surely having to wash a few dishes couldn’t be that bad?
Seeing their expressions, Brightrose shook his head solemnly. “Trust me,” he intoned. “You don’t want to end up as Busy Bee’s employees.”
“Tell me about it,” said Shadowvine with a shiver. “We went from working for a dragon to working for a dragon lady.”
Lex stood in Ribbon’s office, technically his office now, and gazed out the window. Despite the panoramic view of the city it offered, he barely noticed it. His eyes were focused firmly on the future, both immediate and further out.
Vanhoover’s relief was the immediate concern, but Lex had little worry on that front. Now that he had the resources of Tall Tale to draw upon, as well as the Night Mare’s gifts, implementing a large-scale recovery effort would be easier. Without any first-hoof information as to the city’s damage or how badly the local infrastructure had collapsed it was impossible to say how long it would take to turn the place around, but he felt confident it wouldn’t be unduly laborious.
And once he had both cities under his control…
His thoughts were interrupted as he heard hoofsteps approaching. Turning, he saw Ribbon walking in, Sonata following behind her. Lex smiled internally at the sight of his girlfriend; he hadn’t specifically asked her to join them in this meeting, but that was only because he’d presumed that she’d know to do so. That she had pleased him, since it was indicative of their intuition being in sync, as embarrassingly romantic as the sentiment was.
Turning his attention to Ribbon, Lex began to speak. “I want-”
“What do you mean I’m not allowed in?!” From the office’s reception area, Nosey’s outraged voice could be clearly heard.
“The mayor didn’t say that he wanted to see you, and you don’t have an appointment,” came a surprisingly firm response from Lucy. It was enough to make Lex’s eyebrows raise slightly in surprise. He hadn’t thought the klutzy secretary capable of that level of pertinacity.
“What kind of reasoning is that?! He didn’t ask for Sonata either and you let her in!”
“Miss Dusk is the mayor’s girlfriend, which means that she has walk-in privileges. You don’t.”
“Oh come on, he and I go way back! I’m practically family! Lex!” Nosey’s voice increased in volume even further. “Tell her that you want me in there too!”
Growling, Lex telekinetically slammed the office doors shut, letting that be his answer. Nosey’s voice rang out again a moment later, but at least the doors muffled it to a level where she could be ignored. Resolving to deal with that nuisance later, Lex sat down behind the room’s large desk, glancing at Ribbon to see if she’d object to his taking what had formerly been her seat.
Instead, Ribbon sat in one of the guest chairs, glancing at Lex and Sonata with a small smile. “That, right there? That’s why I wouldn’t let Lucy resign. Being a secretary might not be her special talent, but she tries harder than anypony.”
“I guess that makes up for her spilling cider on me,” chuckled Sonata, before turning to Lex with a teasing look. “So you and Nosey go way back, huh?”
“For all of three days,” snorted Lex. “Now, let’s move on.”
Both mares straightened up at that, looking at him attentively. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, Lex fixed his eyes on Ribbon as he began to speak. “I want you to start putting together a large-scale relief operation for Vanhoover. To begin with, you’re going to purchase all of this city’s camping gear.”
Two sets of eyes blinked at that. “Camping gear?” asked Sonata. “You mean, like, for roasting marshmallows and stuff?”
“I mean tents, sleeping bags, blankets, and anything else would be useful if you suddenly found yourself without a home,” replied Lex evenly. If anypony else had said something that ridiculous he would have taken them to task, but he was willing to be more patient with the love of his life. “The flooding likely displaced a lot of ponies, and making sure that they have adequate shelter is a top priority.”
“But won’t they have gone back to their homes already?” asked Sonata. “I mean, when Twilight was telling us about what happened in Vanhoover, she made it sound like the flood had already ended.”
Lex opened his mouth to answer, but Ribbon beat him to it. “Even if the floodwaters have receded, affected homes might still be unlivable,” she said, a grim tone in her voice. “A flooded house isn’t like a giant bathtub. It ruins everything inside, all of the furniture and books and food, and then leaves it strewn around. Not to mention all of the dirt and muck that it washes in from outside. It’s like filling your entire house with wet garbage.”
“And then having nopony come around to clean it up for weeks on end,” added Lex. “Which is why I also want you to buy all of this city’s surplus cleaning and medical supplies.”
But Ribbon shook her head. “We can’t afford that. Even if we spent all of the donation money in the city treasury, we’d be hard-pressed to just buy the camping gear. Throw in the rest of that stuff, and we don’t have anywhere near the budget for something like that.”
Although he had been expecting that answer, Lex still felt his lip curl in disdain. This was one of the central reasons why he had nothing but contempt for Celestia and Luna’s philosophy – if it could even be called that – of political administration. The extremely laissez-faire nature of their government meant that municipal bodies were funded entirely through charitable donations or local fundraising projects, ensuring that they never took in more than a meager amount. Worse, those funds were constantly in danger of being depleted, since regular salaries still needed to be paid to those ponies who worked in government.
The result was that, when large amounts of funds were needed the most, the ponies that were supposed to be taking decisive action found themselves utterly hamstrung by their empty coffers.
Lex knew that, in theory, what was supposed to happen was that local ponies were supposed to pull together in the face of a crisis, generously donating time, money, materials, and whatever else was needed in order to not only overcome hardships together, but strengthen their bonds as a community while doing so. And that worked, for the most part. But in the face of a situation where there was a severe lack of one or more of those things, it was a recipe for disaster.
The only solution for such a situation, Lex knew, was for an authority with sufficient resources – or the ability to procure those resources – to step in, for the common good. That should have been the government, but the princesses’ mismanagement had created a government so anemic as to make that impossible. Vanhoover’s suffering was the result of their neglect.
It was why, after he’d cemented his rule, Lex fully intended to install a system whereby the citizens who lived under him would be subject to a mandatory government surcharge on various goods and services, as well as periodic mandatory payments based on the total value of their assets. That way, his government would never be so broke as to be unable to respond to a crisis. His system of “taxation” would be a way of ensuring his ability to safeguard those ponies that he was responsible for.
“So?” Sonata’s voice cut through Lex’s thoughts. “Just tell them that the new mayor said to turn all that stuff over. If they don’t like it, tough.” She looked at Lex, smiling. “After all, it’s for helping the ponies in Vanhoover, right?”
“That would deleteriously impact the local economy, Sonata,” chided Lex gently. “If we have to confiscate such a large amount of materials without paying for them, then those ponies whom we’ve taken them from will have a hard time making ends meet. Not to mention that they’ll resent my administration for having done that to them.”
“But then how are we supposed to…wait, you don’t mean…” She instinctively reached back, to where the portable hole was tying her mane up.
Lex nodded. “I do. Go ahead and take that off.”
Pouting as she realized that their riches were about to go bye-bye, Sonata nevertheless did as Lex bade her and untied the black cloth from her mane, laying it out on the floor.
Ribbon, who had been watching the exchange in confusion, gaped as the material suddenly turned into a large hole full of coins. For a long moment she just sat there with her jaw hanging open, before finally managing to collect herself, looking between Lex and Sonata in amazement. “Th-this is…!”
“Use this to purchase the supplies I indicated,” said Lex, ignoring her surprise. He paused for a moment to telekinetically remove the remaining scroll case – the one he hadn’t had a chance to read over yet – from the pile, tucking it into his haversack. “Once you’ve done that, reopen the dockyards and have them delivered to that location. On that subject, how many ships are currently moored there?”
“Huh?” replied Ribbon dumbly, still looking at the portable hole full of coins. She edged it with one hoof, still trying to fathom how a hole in the ground could be picked up and rolled like a cloth.
“Ribbon!” Lex snapped, demanding her attention.
Her eyes snapped up immediately, and she blinked as she forced herself to pay attention to him. “Ah, sorry, I, um…” she closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them she was over her surprise. “I don’t know. I’d need to have Lucy contact the harbormaster to pull the records. Why?”
“We’re going to commandeer as many of them as are necessary to transport everything to Vanhoover,” replied Lex. “We’ll use this money to compensate the owners and crew for their trouble.” He’d have preferred to simply use magic to transport everything over there as soon as it was gathered, but that was simply out of the question. The sole teleportation spell he knew allowed only for very short-range movement, meant to be used in tactical skirmishes.
He could, Lex knew, have tried to draw in additional energy to enhance the spell’s range, but he had no idea if that would work or not. Either way, if the teleportation failed, then they’d potentially arrive in the ocean, which would ruin the relief supplies he’d gathered. It wasn’t worth the risk, not when more reliable methods of transport were only slightly slower.
Nodding, Ribbon let her gaze slip back down to the mass of coins again. They’re not even Equestrian bits, she realized. She’d need to figure out how much they were worth before anything else. Across from her, Sonata grinned, leaning in to give a conspiratorial whisper. “Wanna try swimming in them?”
“Finally,” announced Lex, slightly louder than he needed to, “I want you to do one more thing. Go to the local hospitals and clinics, and have them assemble as many doctors and nurses as they can spare. They should keep a skeleton crew, but only those ponies that they can’t do without.”
Now it was Ribbon’s brows that went up, instantly grasping what Lex had in mind. “We’re conscripting them?”
“Yes,” said Lex simply.
Ribbon bit her lip. “Some of them won’t like it.”
“I don’t care if they don’t like it. Their neighbors are in dire straits, and their services are needed.” He gestured to the portable hole again. “They’ll be paid for their work, but make it very clear that they do not have the right to refuse. Take the local police if you have to. If they still won’t cooperate…” he narrowed his eyes as the prospect, “then tell me, and I will deal with them personally.”
Sonata smiled at that. She knew it was a guilty pleasure, but she really hoped that somebody would kick up a fuss. Watching Lex get hooves-on was always enjoyable for her.
“I need all this to happen as soon as possible,” continued Lex. “I want you to be my point-pony on this. I’ll stay here so that I can deal with anything that comes up.”
Letting out a slow breath at the scope of the task in front of her, Ribbon stood up. “Alright, I’ll get started immediately.” She was halfway to the door when something occurred to her, and she stopped, turning back to Lex. “Hang on. We’re getting camping gear, medical supplies, cleaning supplies, and doctors…what about food?”
“Oh yeah, what about food?” echoed Sonata.
Lex shook his head. “No. No food.”
He could see that questions were incoming, so he held up a hoof. “Tall Tale’s railway is still being repaired, and Vanhoover was the coast’s largest food supplier, correct?” He looked at Ribbon, and she nodded in reply.
Sonata tilted her head to the side. “How did you know that?”
“Remember that map of Equestria that Twilight showed us before we left?” asked Lex. “The three major towns on the western coast are Vanhoover, Tall Tale, and Las Pegasus. The latter is on the edge of the San Palomino desert, and is a famous resort town. Tall Tale is situated by White Tail Woods, and is known for its lumber products. Neither has a climate conducive to growing their own food. But Vanhoover is a seaside city at the southern edge of a large area of flatlands, which are themselves tucked between the Unicorn Mountains to the east, the ocean to the west, White Tail Woods to the south, and the Frozen North. It makes sense for that to be an agricultural region, since that area is so isolated that importing food from the breadbasket of central Equestria would be extremely difficult.”
“Oh…” Despite her statement of understanding, Sonata still had no idea how he’d figured all of that out.
Lex turned his gaze back to Ribbon as he continued. “That’s why I don’t want you to purchase any food. Tall Tale is going to need to subsist on what it has, at least until the railway is repaired.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” she admitted. “But what about Vanhoover? If the city's in a bad state, then they won't be getting food deliveries from the local farmers, right? I mean, they have rivers that run from the mountains down into the bay, so water shouldn't be a problem, but other than that...”
“I will take care of that personally,” replied Lex.
Ribbon waited for him to expound on that, but when no further information was forthcoming, she decided to take a guess. “You’re planning to do something with your magic?”
“That’s correct.”
Sonata grinned at his answer, having a good idea what Lex was planning. She’d seen him do something similar in Everglow.
With no further answer forthcoming, Ribbon decided to put it out of her mind for now. For a moment, her eyes darted to what she could see of the scythe on his back, wondering if it had anything to do with why he was carrying such an odd thing around now, despite not having had it yesterday. But he hadn’t brought it up, so neither had she. She believed firmly in having employees do their best at the tasks they were assigned without getting sidetracked, and she fully intended to demonstrate those qualities now.
“I’ll get started right now, but I’m not sure how fast I can pull all this together. There’s a lot to be done.” She nudged the portable hole again as she spoke, and Sonata, picking up on the silent question, got up and made a demonstration out of rolling it up.
“Yes,” nodded Lex in agreement, standing up to look out the window again now that his first round of instructions had been delivered. Looking out over the vista, he once again turned his thoughts to the road ahead.
“There’s indeed a lot to be done.”
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Shelter is most important. You can die quicker in the North Sea, than if you stepped into open vaccuum. Clean water is important, because you can only go a couple days without water at all, and diseases in contaminated water can kill just as quickly as no water. Food, the averag person can go a full day easily with nothing, so many schools do a 24 hour charity fast, and takes longest to succumb to, though again quicly in harsh conditions or with effort such as search nd recovery or reconstruction etc.
Have to be careful with a dragons horde, can so easily crash the local economy.
“There’s indeed a lot to be done.”
Lex will need to dig deep for those typos. Maybe the araneas can help find them.
7796739 You sure read through that fast.
I wonder about that. An open vacuum will essentially suffocate you, though you'll lose consciousness extremely quickly (about fifteen seconds or so). Whereas Antarctic scientists have the 300 Club, where they get in a sauna for a few minutes and then run around outside, naked, on a -100-degree Fahrenheit day.
You're right about that. Cholera can kill you faster than dehydration. That said, I probably should have put in something about Vanhoover's water supply; the map of Equestria makes it clear that the city sits on a bay that's fed by mountain rivers, which are a source of fresh water. I've edited that into Ribbon's dialogue.
That's precisely right.
That would be the result of such a large influx of cash coming in that it devalues everything else considerably. In this case, that's probably not going to happen, since Lex is limiting the spending to camping gear and surpluses only of medical and cleaning supplies, along with compensating for the use of ships and medical personnel. More likely it will cause a bump and bring about a small stimulus, but not any real devaluation. (That's leaving aside issues of the conversion rate between those coins and Equestrian bits anyway.)
Besides, the (minimal) risk - when weighed against the lives of Vanhoover's ponies versus the local economy of Tall Tale - is one that he feels is more than worth it.
7796787 Being immersed in freezing water is surprisingly deadly? It's a much better heat conductor than vacuum. You can survive for *minutes* in a vacuum (although you won't be doing anything past the first few seconds, yeah).
Sub-freezing air with no wind isn't as bad.
7796880 The human body cools twenty-five times faster in water than it does in air, according to the Personal Floatation Device Manufacturers Association. But according to that same source, the expected time of survival in freezing water is "under 15 to 45 minutes," which suggests that it takes far longer for freezing water to kill you than exposure to a vacuum would.
That's because what makes freezing water so deadly isn't how fast it leeches heat from you, as it turns out. According to the United States Coast Guard, the major risk is experiencing "cold shock," which can cause reflexive gasping, hyperventilation, and difficulty holding your breath, all of which can lead to risk of immediate drowning, which is a type of asphyxiating, the same as a vacuum.
So in terms of deadliness, falling into freezing waters, such as those of the North Sea, aren't going to kill you any faster than if you were directly exposed to a vacuum. But there's a good chance that they won't kill you any slower, either.
7796972 Those are much different numbers that I've heard before, but I can find sources that look authoritative that back them up.
Good to know in case I accidentally fall off a dock in the winter.
People were telling me you'd be dead before you could swim the 20 feet to shore.
7797006 If you have different numbers from authoritative sources (that is, ones that are authoritative rather than look authoritative
), then I encourage you to mention them here. This is one of those topics where having the right information is kind of important.
...or did you mean to say you "can't" find sources to back them up, and made a typo?
But otherwise, yeah, based on what I've read, it's damn-near impossible for any liquid water to be so cold that it would kill you via hypothermia before you could swim twenty feet. Going into cold shock and drowning is something else again, though.
7797012 I meant I found sources that backed up your numbers.
7797015 Ah, okay.
By the by, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to comment. I went back and looked through, and it seems like it's been some time since you lasted posted here. It's good to have you back!
Their hoard of gold may be depleted now(or at least significantly diminished) but they still have the portable hole so that's still a plus.
Logistically speaking, Lex seems to have everything covered for the relief effort and I'd imagine he'll perform a miracle to cover the food for Vanhoover to display Night Mare's blessing and attract some future followers. Though from what I recall, any food provided by magic seems to be only enough for a small group, not an entire city or is that already covered in the books?
As for the conscription of the medical staff, I doubt they'll put up much resistance to Lex's first official action as mayor. From Ribbon's comment, I guess that some would be reluctant to leave friends and family after the incident with the dragon but I believe it'll take little to convince them to help their fellow ponies in Vanhoover, especially with Sonata to help him out.
p.s
Sonata first thoughts on camping supplies being marshmallows made me smile. Totes adorable.
7797361 It remains to be seen how much of Lex and Sonata's money survives this plan, but given that it was all a windfall anyway, that's not really much of a loss. And as you noted, they still have the magic item that the coins came in (and the scrolls).
As far as Lex's plans for Vanhoover's relief are concerned, it's not surprising that he's so on top of things, at least so far. This is the sort of planning and large-scale problem-solving that he excels at. His cutie mark denotes that his special talent is in administration, after all. Insofar as using magic to create food goes, you're right that it's a small-scale spell; create food and water makes "food and water to sustain three humans or one horse/level for 24 hours."
In this case, a pony counts as a human, rather than a horse, simply due to matters of scale; they're "little ponies" after all. Right now, Lex is 9th level, but thanks to the flexibility that a point-buy character-generation system offers, he's able to make up for his weaknesses in certain areas with strengths in others. As such, he's able to punch above his weight class in terms of magic, casting as though he were 11th level. But that's still only enough food for just shy of three dozen ponies per casting of the spell. So what will he do about that...?
Hopefully you're right that Vanhoover's doctors and nurses won't mind being shipped to Vanhoover; it is a mission of mercy, after all.
And yeah, Sonata can always be counted on to see the fun - or rather, easy - side of a situation. Just another way that she and Lex balance each other out.
Sorry for the long delay, had to edit something, and life happened. But, good news. Typos are disappearing. They seem to be hiding.
7811284 I was wondering where you'd gotten to. It's good to have you back!
just what is lex class ?
7938193 Long story short, Lex's stats are built using a point-buy character-generation system - meaning that his stats and abilities are purchased directly - rather than via advancing through class levels.
For more about this, I recommend reading my first blog post here on FimFiction.net, as it talks about this in more detail. You can find Lex's stats (with one or two differences, mostly in terms of his servants) over on my other blog.
The plotting grows. But what are the odds of no snags?
8028866 If the progression of events up until now is any indication, not very good.