658 - Twenty-Five and Nothing
“I don’t suppose Master told you what he’s doing?”
Drafty blinked, not having expected that question from Solvei. “No. All he told me was that it’s important that he not be interrupted.” Shrugging, she glanced at where Lex was gesturing and chanting a few dozen yards away, standing exactly where he’d been since before sunrise. “Honestly, I thought he would have told you what he was up to, since he’s your ‘master’ and all.”
The winter wolf sighed as she laid down, putting her head on her paws. “That he wasn’t to be disturbed was all he said to me, too. I just thought you might know more since you can use magic the way he can.”
That brought a small smile to Drafty’s face, as much from the fact that Solvei was using the correct term as from the compliment. “Don’t forget that you can use magic too, now.”
“I guess, but it doesn’t really feel the same,” murmured Solvei. “I mean, I can use a few of the same powers as Master, but other than that, all I can do is manipulate the cold.” As a demonstration, she waved a paw at a branch that had fallen nearby. A moment later there was a rush of cold, and the branch was encased in a thin coating of ice. “See? It’s just different ways of doing the same thing, not like all the different stuff you and Master can do.”
Drafty’s smirk turned rueful then. “I seem to recall you doing a number on Prevarius with the magic you have now.”
Solvei managed a wan smile at that, but it didn’t last. “I’m just not sure how much I’ll be able to help Master once we get to the pony lands,” she admitted a moment later. “Or worse, I might cause trouble for him. I mean, the utvalgte and the ponies aren’t exactly on good terms. If they see me walking beside him, things could get ugly…”
Drafty frowned. “So…you’re really going to stay with Lex?”
The question earned her a puzzled look from the winter wolf. “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I?”
“I meant…” Drafty paused, trying to figure out the most delicate way to phrase what she was attempting to say. “After how hard you fought to get your family back, I’m just surprised that you’re willing to leave them like this.”
Solvei’s ears folded back, her gaze falling toward the ground. “I love my family,” she said at last, “and I’m glad they’re safe. But it’s because of Master that they are safe. After everything that’s happened to him – all that stuff you’ve told me over the last few days about how he lost his family and his home and all the pain he went through – I can’t just turn my back on him now. He helped me rescue everyone I care about; now I’m going to do the same for him.”
“You know that means going back to Equestria though, right?” pressed Drafty. “If you do that, you might not be able to see the rest of your pack again. At least, not for a long time.”
“I know, and I’ll miss them, but at least I’ll know they’re okay here. Master…” Solvei trailed off as she glanced at Lex, still engaged in whatever magical exploit he hadn’t seen fit to explain to them. “…he’s not okay. He’s angry and sad and lonely, and I’m starting to think he’s been that way for a very long time. I feel all sorts of terrible things from him every time he goes to sleep. If I can help him feel even a little bit better, then I want to try…even if it means leaving my family.”
That was enough to make Drafty shift in place, suddenly uncomfortable. She’d been keeping her distance from Lex ever since he’d snapped at her, hurt by the outburst. Being reminded that he didn’t know if the other mares who’d gone to rescue him were dead or not made it difficult for her to hold on to that feeling now, though, instead making her wonder if she was being petulant. I wish I could talk to Kara about this.
But that wasn’t going to happen for at least a little while longer…mostly because the spell she’d come up with to try and undo Prevarius making her unable to hear the goddess’s voice hadn’t worked.
Yet.
“Have you thought about asking them to come with us?”
The question made Solvei cock her head. “Huh?”
“Your family,” explained Drafty, wanting to think about something else besides the idea that she hadn’t been cutting Lex enough slack. “I’m sure Lex would be willing to do…whatever it is he did to make you so strong, on them. I mean, he powered them up when we fought Prevarius, so-”
“They’re afraid of him,” muttered Solvei.
The answer was so unexpected that it took Drafty a moment to process. “They’re afraid of him? After everything he did to help you save them? Why?”
“They look at me now, and think that it’s like what Prevarius did to them,” huffed Solvei, frustration filling her voice. “The devil gave them new powers, and changed their appearance, because he took ownership of their souls. So now they see how I look different, and have magic of my own, and they think it’s the same thing.”
Privately, Drafty wondered if that wasn’t the case. She still wasn’t entirely sure what Lex’s “divine authority” – as Solvei had said he’d called it, when he’d experimented on her with the power the Night Mare had given him the night before they’d confronted Bolverk and Prevarius – could do, but the fact that Solvei was suddenly devoted to Lex, to the point of calling him “Master” and being willing to follow him to another world entirely, struck her as being suspicious. Lex was impressive, but that was a short time to develop that sort of hero-worship.
Of course, given that she’d fallen for Lex from the moment she’d first laid eyes on him, Drafty knew she wasn’t exactly in a position to throw stones.
“That’s why they haven’t come around,” continued Solvei, glancing back at a nearby grove of trees – where Drafty knew the other winter wolves were lurking – with a look of reproach. “It doesn’t matter how many times I explain to them that I chose this. They’re afraid that if they get too close to him, he’ll gobble up their souls the way he apparently did mine.”
“Just don’t let it turn into a fight,” replied Drafty after a moment, her thoughts turning to Cloudbank all of a sudden. “If you know you’re not going to see them again for a long time, you want to at least make sure you say goodbye properly.”
Solvei glanced at her then, before giving another sigh. “I know. I guess I’m not quite as okay with leaving as I made it sound.” Sitting up, she took a deep breath, as though gathering up her resolve. “The truth is, we said our goodbyes last night, since Master made it clear that once he finishes…what he’s doing, then we’re immediately going to the pony lands.”
“You mean if he ever finishes what he’s doing,” snorted Thermal Draft. “He’s been going at whatever it is since it was still dark, and I’m pretty sure that it’s past sundown now. If he hadn’t told us both that we needed to stay here and make sure nothing bothered…”
She didn’t bother finishing, since Solvei was quite clearly no longer listening to her, her head having whipped around toward Lex as a whimper escaped her throat. It was enough to make Drafty jump to her hooves, following the winter wolf’s gaze to look at the stallion. But as far as she could see, he was just fine. Except…
He’s standing still now, realized Drafty, seeing that Lex had fallen silent, his motions and incantations having ceased. Does that mean he’s done? But the winter wolf’s reaction suggested that something was wrong. “Solvei, is everything okay?”
“Master’s angry.” Solvei’s answer came with a cringe, as though she’d been swatted across the nose. “Furious! He’s-”
But she didn’t need to give any further description as Lex suddenly let out a wordless bellow of rage, black crystals erupting all around him.
Things were going well for once.
Had he not been busy directing the flow of magical energy surrounding him, the ambient currents of power swollen thanks to the equinox, Lex would have sneered at the thought. There had been so many disasters happening at such a rapid pace that the lack of the worst-case scenario breaking out now seemed like “going well” in comparison. Given that they were still stuck on Everglow, with no idea what was happening back on Equestria, and only a vague plan for getting back, the current situation remained far from ideal.
Even so, Lex had to admit that being able to replenish his thaumaturgical spellcasting without interruption was a huge step in the right direction.
He’d made sure to get an early start, wanting to give himself enough time to make up for any potential interruptions. It didn’t require the entire day for him to restore his full complement of spells, which meant that if a violent storm suddenly sprung up, or some monster suddenly attacked, or something else happened, he’d have enough time to deal with it and return to gathering power. As it was, having Thermal Draft and Solvei see him restoring his magic (even if they, hopefully, didn’t know what he was doing) was less than ideal – this was a weakness which needed to be concealed as much as possible – but it was more important for them to act as guards.
Amazingly, however, nothing had disturbed him, and now, lowering his hooves and letting his voice lapse after hours of work, Lex took a moment to revel in the feeling of renewed vigor rushing through him.
At last, he was finally back at full strength!
Or rather, almost at full strength; while most of his spells didn’t require material foci to function, a few did, such as the silver mirror required for his scrying spell, or the tuning fork necessary to cast the plane-spanning spell that would take them back to Equestria. He’d prepared both of them, of course, but without the proper materials – which would require access to an urban market of sufficient size to procure – there was no use in casting them.
But there was another spell he could cast right now that could at least tell him something about what was going on back home.
This spell, designed to let him send a twenty-five-word message to one individual, and receive a response of equal length – regardless of where they were – was one he’d cast before. For all the spell’s careful construction, its abilities weren’t foolproof. Traveling the planes, as well as disruptive local conditions, meant that there was a small chance it wouldn’t go through. And of course, if he sent it to someone who wasn’t in a position to answer, then the only response he’d receive would be silence.
And considering that he didn’t know what had become of Sonata, Aria, Nosey, or Feather Duster, Lex knew that no matter how badly he wanted to direct the spell toward one of them, doing so would have been imprudent.
Better, instead, to reach out to someone who was, to the best of his knowledge, almost certainly still alive. Someone who had been with him in Las Pegasus, and so would know what had happened to the girls. Someone who already worked for him, and wouldn’t balk at answering his questions.
Due to the complexity of its design, the spell was one that took ten minutes to cast, but Lex didn’t need nearly that long to decide to whom to send his message.
“Coat Tail,” he intoned once the spell had been successfully cast, naming his Royal Clothier, one of the two members of his entourage whom he’d brought with him to Las Pegasus. “This is Lex Legis. I’m currently on Everglow with Thermal Draft. In twenty-five words, tell me what happened to Sonata and the others.”
The moments that passed as he waited for a response seemed to last for years.
“Your Highness!” came the stallion’s voice at last, causing Lex to release a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “I’m so relieved that-, yes, I know it’s the prince, Tranquila! Now hush! I only have twenty-five words to respond! Sire, Miss Dusk-”
And then his voice cut out, the length of the spell’s messaging capabilities exceeded.
For a moment Lex could only stand there, staring at nothing as he tried to process what had just happened.
He’d found out nothing. That blithering imbecile Coat Tail – as well as Tranquila Rest, the so-called Royal Leisuremeister, who’d apparently also been there and distracted him – had managed to somehow mangle what should have been the simplest of orders! And now, because of that, the fate of Sonata and the others was STILL UNKNOWN!!!
Worse, he couldn’t cast that spell again; he’d only prepared it once, needing to allocate the limited space in his mental architecture to other spells. Nor had he been able to retain it after being cast; the degree of power that spell required meant that it exceeded anything his circlet could fuel, and trying to feed it compensatory energy through his body’s magical channels would have severely crippled him, a state that couldn’t easily be cured since divine authority could only imbue Solvei with so much power – including healing – now.
That meant more not knowing what had happened to the mares he loved – Sonata, the first person to brighten his existence since he’d lost his parents; Aria, whose passionate intensity excited him like no one else; Nosey, whom he still cared for deeply despite their relationship not working out – as well as Feather Duster, who had been counting on him to rescue her.
Had they made it out of the warehouse alive? If so, were they hurt? Had Dark Streak gone after them? Had Celestia moved to arrest them once word of his presumed death had gotten out? Or had the worst come to pass, and none of them had escaped from the burning factory?
For someone who approached life as a series of problems that needed to be solved, who hoarded every scrap of knowledge and pored over every piece of data that he came across, studying and analyzing everything he could, not knowing what had happened to those four was worse than any answer Lex could possibly have received. Even if they were all dead, he would have been able to start making plans and crafting strategies to bring them back. It would have been beyond agonizing, knowing that he’d failed them so badly, but at least he would have been able to do something.
But instead, he was stuck with the same uncertainty as before. Trapped between hope and fear, with grief and relief each waiting in the wings, there was no way to prepare for one without it coming at the expense of the other, leaving him paralyzed as to what the correct course of action was. All while trying to deal with the persistent dangers of Everglow, the precarious state of Thermal Draft’s soul, and whatever had happened between himself and Solvei…and, of course, trying to find what he needed to get home.
So much for everything going well for once, snickered his tulpa.
In his current state, the mockery more than Lex could take, and he threw his head back and screamed as loud as he could.
When he finally ran out of air, he dimly registered that Thermal Draft and Solvei were on either side of him. The two of them were asking him what was wrong, if he was alright, if there was anything they could do…but at that moment, Lex couldn’t bring himself to care. Instead, he took a step away from both of them, heading northeast. “We’re done here,” he muttered, his voice sounding lifeless even to his own ears. “Let’s go.”
The nearest pony village, according to Solvei, was on the other side of the mountain whose base they were at now. Circling around it would only take a few hours. Once they were there, they’d at least be able to pinpoint where on Everglow they were, and figure out where to go from there.
That was all he could do now.
Stats
Page generated in 0.123 seconds
Total duration
1,019 users online
1,856,791 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Well...on the bright side, Sonata and the others can receive confirmation that Lex is alright now, provided they believe what Coat Tail tells them. Hopefully Aria is familiar with that spell or at the very least knows of it to confirm it. Though if she does, Coat Tail will likely be feeling pretty dumb for wasting his words. Guess that's one downside with being so verbose.
Regardless, Lex's array of magic is restored so he'll have more options should he encounter more danger. When he roared, I thought the ritual failed for a moment there though as per usual with Lex, he couldn't have his cake and eat it too...this time at least.
i.giantitp.com//comics/oots/oots0337.gif
Could be worse Lex, if you had got Sonata she likely wouldve just said the 25 longest words she knew or could make up, and still have no actual information.
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychrndrobwylllantisiliogogogoch is one word? Or does the spell decode the underlaying langage in translation as well?
11058050 Unlike Lex, we the readers know that Sonata et al made it out of the burning factory okay, so this will hopefully inform them that Lex is still alive and well (along with Thermal Draft). As it is, we know that Dark Streak apparently has no plans to go after the others, but beyond that there's little indication of what's happening back on Equestria...other than the fact that Blueblood was involved in hiring Dark Streak, that is. Given that Lex's coronation is supposed to be happening right about now, one can only imagine what's happening to his political ambitions.
In the meantime, Lex has more immediate concerns to worry about. With any luck, he'll be able to figure out where they are once they arrive in that sleepy little hamlet, get directions to Viljatown (the capital of Everglow's Pony Empire), get what he needs to cast his plane shift spell, and that will be that.
But as his tulpa acknowledged, things don't usually go that smoothly for him.
11058057 Poking fun at the particulars of D&D Third Edition has long been the claim to fame of Order of the Stick, and it's as true here as it's ever been!
11058217 No auto-translate feature is built in, although my saying so is actually something of a minority opinion. That's because the sending spell doesn't have the [language-dependent] descriptor the way that, say, message does. As such, a lot of people have taken it to mean that your message is presented in a way that transcends all language barriers, which strikes me as being against the intent of the spell. Hence, it doesn't work that way here (along with counting words uttered to someone else as part of its twenty-five-word limit).
i really like the talk between Thermal Draft and Solvei , it is the real meet of this chapter.
11058792 Your comment really put a smile on my face.
I've read lots of fanfics where the main character assembles a group of followers, and in far too many of them those supporting cast members are defined exclusively by their relationship to the main character, to the point where they barely even seem to be cognizant of each other, let alone interact. That's not something I wanted to do here, so I felt it was appropriate for Solvei and Drafty to talk more and get to know each other better when they had some downtime together. That it came across so well makes me very happy.
Yeah that spell is tricky if you're not familiar with it.
11058057
Dang, beat me to it.
11059328 I imagine that, if he ever has the free time to do so, Lex will want to research a better version of that spell. As it is, long-range communication magic is one of the areas where the d20 System is quite unforgiving.