753 - On a Tear
“Are you sure there isn’t anything else that might fit me better?”
“Will you stop whining already?” huffed Solvei, rolling her eyes before glancing at Akna. “You wanted clothes, and Master gave them to you, so what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that I look like...like...” Apparently unable to find the words to properly summarize her current appearance, Akna instead glanced down at herself, biting her lip as her ears flattened against her head.
Although he had no eye for fashion, it wasn’t hard for Lex to understand the source of Akna’s discomfort, even if he had no sympathy for her.
While there’d been several different outfits stuffed into his extradimensional pack, none of them had been designed for someone of humanoid stature. Footwear had been completely out of the question, for instance, due to each outfit having been made with hooves in mind. Similarly, her six-foot height was larger than what most ponies measured when standing on their back legs, and the intended recipient of the clothing in Lex’s possession had apparently been no exception.
The result was that, while Akna had been able to dress herself, the clothes she’d eventually selected sat awkwardly on her. Her leggings – a simple pair of black pants made out of cotton – barely reached to her knees, even though they would have made it to the ankles on a pony. Worse, the material hadn’t been designed for someone of such robust proportions, causing it to cling to her like a second skin, the seams straining visibly every time she took a step. That her tail was pushed upward due to the hole being slightly misaligned for her body type only seemed to upset her more.
But it was trying to cover her upper body that had caused the adlet the most consternation, since none of the garments designed for covering the wearer’s torso had been made to account for the presence of breasts, let alone the prominent pair of mammaries that Akna was sporting.
That had been illustrated quite pointedly by how she’d managed to ruin no less than three shirts in attempting to keep her chest covered.
The first casualty had been a plain brown woolen sweater. Although it had been immediately obvious that it was too small for her, Akna had tugged at the material insistently, telling them that wool was a fiber which stretched. Of course, it had been midway through that explanation that she’d managed to tear the fabric right down the middle, leaving her bosom completely on display beneath the ripped material.
Red-faced as she’d ignored Solvei’s snickering and Lex’s impatient growl, a cream-colored button-down made of silk had been Akna’s next victim. After spending almost two full minutes trying to slip the brass fasteners through the holes, her first deep breath had sent them flying off, nearly causing Solvei to collapse from how hard she’d been laughing.
The simple, undyed canvas tunic that she’d tried after that had seemed like it would survive where its predecessors had met their end. That particular article of clothing had clearly been designed for rough use, and while Akna had complained about how it had compressed her bust, the sturdy textile hadn’t seemed in danger of destruction.
Unfortunately, Akna’s sigh of relief at having found a wearable top had come when she’d been looking down at the tunic, causing the super-cooled air of her breath to freeze the fabric as solidly as if it had been caught in an ice storm. Needless to say, when she’d frantically tried to chip the ice off, she’d accomplished nothing except to shatter the central portion of the garment as though it had been made of glass.
By that time, Solvei – who had simply shrunk herself down to pony size in order to fit into a deep blue two-piece outfit with gold brocading – had been rolling on the ground and howling in mirth, while Lex’s patience had been completely shot. After informing Akna that she’d go topless if she didn’t find something immediately, the sniffling adlet had settled for a simple shirt of red linen.
It hadn’t been her first choice for a reason. A size too small even before taking the difference in body shape into account, it not only left her entire belly on display, but wasn’t even able to reach down far enough to fully cover her breasts, leaving their curved undersides visible before the taut fabric managed to hide the remainder. But at least the garment held, even if Akna was visibly making sure not to stretch too far or breathe too deeply.
Even then, every step the adlet took made both orbs jiggle in their imperfect container, as though threatening to burst forth at any moment despite her efforts.
“I’m the spiritual leader of my tribe, slayer of the yetis, and a loyal devotee of the Night Mare,” muttered Akna miserably as they strode toward the gateway, arms crossed beneath her chest to try and stabilize how much it was bouncing. “Why do I have to be humiliated like this?”
Solvei’s shot Akna a reproachful look. “Compared to what my master went through in that Rite of yours, you’re getting off easy. He-”
“We’re almost within range of the lights,” cut in Lex sharply from where he was walking between the two of them. “Settle down and focus on the plan.”
“Right, right.”
“Understood, Master.”
With no choice except to trust that they understood how important it was that they follow his instructions, Lex kept walking.
Up ahead, he saw the two guards stationed outside the gate peering in their direction, apparently nearing the edge of their field of vision. By any reasonable measure, they shouldn’t have been; to Lex’s own eyes, they were still fairly distant from the edge of the light cast by the glowing orbs lining the wall. But he’d expected that the residents of Darkest Night, even if they were ponies, would have greater visual acuity, particularly if they were assigned to watch the exterior of this settlement for potential dangers.
But the fact that he’d been correct was less notable than the fact that, at this distance, he could see that the pair of armored pegasi were not, in fact, pegasi at all.
Instead, both stallions had wings that were composed of fleshy membranes rather than feathers, giving them a bat-like appearance. Contributing to that impression were the slight fangs that peaked past their lips, as well as the vertical slits of their pupils. Even their ears seemed a little larger than that of a normal pony’s, as well as being slightly tufted.
Equestria had long had rumors of ponies like them, but as far as Lex was aware they’d never been verified. They’d had names like “thestrals” or – less imaginatively – “bat ponies.” But on Everglow, and apparently here in Darkest Night as well, that particular tribe was real, and went by a different name:
Leather wings.
“That’s far enough!” yelled one of the guards; apparently they’d come close enough to be seen. Throwing his lance aside, the leather wing hoisted his crossbow and pointed it at them. “Don’t come any closer!”
“Identify yourself immediately!” shouted the second, having moved in perfect tandem with his partner. “If you do anything else, we’ll shoot!”
Coming to a halt, Lex didn’t bother responding to the threat, instead focusing on his circlet to let him see into the magical spectrum, fighting back the urge to grimace at what he saw. That the guards’ weapons and armor were enchanted wasn’t surprising – though given the relative weakness of the auras he could see clinging to their gear, the magic they’d been imbued with was of a fairly basic variety, likely doing little more than enhancing durability, improving balance and weight distribution, and other mild improvements – but that the wall behind them was magically strengthened was beyond what he’d expected.
In fact, judging from the patterns of the aura surrounding it, the mortared stonework wasn’t only reinforced, it was also enhanced in numerous other ways. There were several auras that he could only catch a glimpse of, their presence overshadowed by stronger spellwork. But the ones he could make out painted an impressive picture, having properties such as a friction-decreasing enchantment designed to make the exterior harder to climb, countermeasures against magical alterations to its structure, and even an etheric resonance designed to prevent incorporeal creatures from passing through it.
That last one made Lex snort, able to appreciate the irony of coming across that particular defense when he had insufficient dark magic to turn into a shadow anyway. But that interested him less than the fact that he’d just been considering how difficult it was to create a large-scale magical defense for an entire town.
And yet now, they’d come across exactly that.
Even considering that this was a goddess’s realm, whoever had constructed the wall around this town had to be a spellcaster of prodigious ability.
Which made it fortunate that Lex had decided that the three of them wouldn’t try to sneak or fight their way in.
“Servants of the Night Mare!” howled Solvei, stepping forward in a manner that made it clear she was unconcerned with the guards’ warnings. “Rejoice! Before you stands none other than our goddess’s greatest champion! One who has bent Severance of the Umbral Regalia to his will! Slayer of dragons, devils, and other creatures who dare to defy Our Dark Lady’s will! Bearer of the Charismata! I present to you His Highness, Prince Lex Legis!”
“Open the gates immediately!” demanded Akna, raising her voice as she moved up to stand across from Solvei, forcing herself to adopt a haughty posture. “Bring forth the ruler of this place so that they may give thanks that one so high in the Dark Tyrant of the Night’s esteem has come to grace their presence! Then make ready your gifts and offerings in recognition of His Highness’s glorious service to our goddess!”
Pausing just long enough to catch each other’s eyes, both lupines took a breath before bringing their introduction to a close.
“IN THE NIGHT MARE’S NAME,” they shouted in unison, “OUR PRINCE COMMANDS IT!”
The two guards simply stared, wide-eyed at the flamboyant introduction. Nor were they alone, as up on the wall several other leather wings in guard uniforms had come to see what the spectacle was, whispering and pointing as they looked on with expressions ranging from anxious to incredulous to suspicious.
Finally, one of the guards managed to regain his wits, lowering his crossbow as he licked his lips, giving Lex a half-hearted nod as his eyes flicked down to the barbed wire around his foreleg. “Just, um...just wait a moment. I mean, a moment if you please, er, sire. I’ll, uh, go send word to my commanding officer.”
He didn’t wait for a response before flapping his wings, flying up to the top of the wall, leaving his sputtering partner behind. Belatedly lowering his own weapon, the remaining guard shot a nervous smile their way, his grin faltering when the expression wasn’t returned. Gulping a little, he backed up until he was almost pressed against the portcullis, his gaze alternating between the trio awaiting entrance and the ground.
After a few moments, one of the leather wings took off from the group huddled on top of the wall, ducking low so as to fly beneath the wire spires. No sooner had they left than the first guard returned, his composure slightly recovered. “Our commander begs your indulgence as we, ah, alert the necessary individuals so that a proper welcome can be prepared.”
A quick telepathic command to Solvei made the winter wolf snarl. “Be quick about it! His Highness doesn’t like to be kept waiting!”
Flustered, the leather wing sputtered a series of apologies and assurances that things would quickly be put in order, but Lex didn’t bother listening, his thoughts again turning elsewhere.
While the Rite of Sublimation wasn’t something he was comfortable dwelling on – the horrible truths it had showed him, and his own subsequent breakdown, were still too painful to think back about – the circumstances of his failure were exceptionally clear to him now: going on a rampage of slaughter and destruction wasn’t something the Night Mare would countenance.
For all that she didn’t mind his killing ghouls and devils and even alien creatures like the sahuagin – the latter likely due to their already having their own alien gods or simply not meeting whatever esoteric criteria she looked for in potential worshipers – the Night Mare wasn’t a death goddess. Her religion didn’t require ritual killings nor endorse conversion under pain of being executed. Rather, she held that her ideals of power and control were the foundations of an ideal society, one which ultimately benefitted everyone. Threats to that paradigm could be dispatched, but only if they couldn’t be subdued or otherwise put to better use.
That the Shrine of the Starless Sky had maintained a prohibition against her worshipers – which had included a bewildering variety of creatures all under the Keeper’s control – killing each other should have made that painfully obvious.
But while Lex had lost sight of that during the Rite, he could at least recognize it now. If he’d failed the test for killing ponies who weren’t worshipers of the Night Mare, then slaying the ponies of Darkest Night – the incarnate souls of her worshipers, reborn in her realm after dying – would doubtlessly draw a much stronger rebuke from the goddess. Even if Lex could no longer find value in the moral code he’d spent so much time constructing, simple prudence therefore demanded that violence against the ponies here be avoided, or at least minimized, wherever possible.
To that end, it was better to enter this town legitimately, rather than trying to bypass or overpower its defenders. Which meant a diplomatic overture, something that he was almost guaranteed to bungle if he tried it on his own. Nor had Solvei or Akna been able to come up with any ideas in that regard, since neither were familiar with civilized societies in general or pony settlements in particular.
But while the idea for presenting himself at the gates in such an ostentatious manner had been Lex’s, it wasn’t one that he credited himself for.
Instead, having been reminded of his lost loves by the way Solvei and Akna had been bickering during the clothing debacle, he’d asked himself what Sonata and Aria would do.
Now all that was left was to wait and see if it had worked.
Stats
Page generated in 0.091 seconds
Total duration
622 users online
835,724 hits today, 2,244,100 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.®
Only a Geniius could come up with a plan like this?
Make way, for Prince Lexy?
11356528 It's more like Akna and Solvei were very much out of their element. Remember, neither of them knew much about ponies at all before they met Lex, and neither has ever been in an actual urban area.
Of course, that doesn't mean that this place's leaders will necessarily roll out the red carpet and grant his every wish.
Hmm, I can't help but wonder if this 'town' is considered the Darkest Night's equivalent of the 'boonies' given how remote the place is. Sure, the number of enchantments on the walls and the guards' equipment is impressive to the average person/pony but given the dangers of the area, it is most likely done out of necessity.
Still, to introduce Lex as a prince will certainly draw attention to him but given the Night Mare's religion, I doubt status alone will amount to much without the power to back it up since I'm certain the commander will be skeptical of him and his 'servants' so I'm half expecting him to be challenged in some form before he's allowed some small measure of respite.
11356785 The idea that Lex is in the "hinterlands" of the Night Mare's realm has already put forward, and given that all we've seen so far is a wilderness with a walled settlement at the edge of it, there's presumably more to it than that (other than the dark moon overhead, where the Night Mare herself dwells).
Having said that, allow me to rant for a moment: the issue of how large a god's realm is, and its population size (both in terms of the souls of mortal worshipers and divine servitors), are things for which there are very few game-based resources, which I find particularly irritating because I make use of game-based resources to inform this story. I've only found two products which are any help in this regard, those being The Primal Order (whose Wikipedia page is absolutely worth a read, even to casual gamers) and The Immortal's Handbook: Ascension, and while I won't get into the nitty-gritty (unless asked), both are somewhat awkward to use in the context of this story.
With regard to Lex's current strategy, he's basically playing off of the fact that a place ordered around a formalized hierarchical structure based on strength will mean that challenging someone who presents themselves as being your superior carries a measure of risk. Yes, you can object to them declaring themselves to be above you, but doing so means daring them to prove that they can, in fact, assert themselves over you. Which will turn out to be good for you if they are, in fact, bluffing, but can just as easily turn out very badly if they really are as strong as they say. Better, in that case, to simply pass things up the proverbial chain to your own superior and let them put themselves at risk (which is what they're expected to do, being your acknowledged superior and all).
Insofar as gambles go, this one appears to have paid off for Lex in that it's going to let him bypass at least some of the rabble. But as you noted, that's probably not going to work for the entire hierarchy of the place. At some point, someone (either the ruler of this settlement, or one of their underlings) is likely to say "put up or shut up" to Lex's claims of being a bigwig, at which point things might get dicey.
The charismata should be enough to prove his legitimacy but... they pretty much look like three hobos telling tall tales right now.
How magic saturated is the Darkest Night? Can he regain his spells using while there?
Also, who is the nightmare counterpart in Everglow, I don't remember if It has been stated or not?
11357687 It's true that not having an appearance that's as bombastic as the presentation that Solvei and Akna made weakens their claims. Part of the projection of power is wearing the trappings of power, since that communicates your status to anyone who observes you. While it's a popular trope that someone who makes a gaudy presentation of themselves often turns out to be a weakling who's just trying to make themselves look strong (and, alternatively, there's a trope about the strong person who looks and acts like a nobody), that's usually a setup that's quickly overturned in the course of a given narrative. Insofar as worldbuilding goes, the people who can afford to make that sort of spectacle out of themselves can usually back it up, since otherwise they won't last very long.
As for whether or not Lex can regain his thaumaturgical spells in Darkest Night, there's been nothing definitive on that, but I suspect that he can't; the implication prior to now is that he can intuitively tell when the ambient magic levels in the environment have swelled due to the solstice/equinox, similar to how he can sense a spell going off in nearby proximity to himself. So he's probably out of luck in that regard.
Likewise, the Night Mare's counterpart on Everglow is probably the Sun Queen (the leader of the pony pantheon), although the Moon Princess is the other goddess who claims dominion over the night.