780 - Long Odds
Lex’s claws gouged the smooth stone floor beneath him as he stalked across the center of the Shrine, heading back toward the cathedral.
A small part of him noted his inadvertent vandalism, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. The Keeper would undoubtedly see to it that the rents in the ground were fixed. But he’d do it after turning over the magical paraphernalia Sanguine Disposition had said the talking skull had brought to the Shrine after being driven mad by it.
Of course, that was presuming that the vampire had been telling the truth. And that the Keeper’s warped mind was capable of revisiting the topic of what had shattered it in the first place. And that such an item could be handled safely, let alone have its nature and functions decoded in a prompt manner.
Not to mention the biggest presumption of all: that whatever it was the Keeper had brought here was capable of helping Thermal Draft.
The thought of the dying pegasus-, no, the dying doppelganger made Lex grind his teeth, claws digging deeper into the stonework as he forced himself to stop walking and consider what he’d just learned. How could Thermal Draft have become that insectoid thing?! It made no sense!
According to what Mystaria and her friends had said, doppelgangers were a type of pony native to Everglow. But he’d met Thermal Draft back on Equestria, where she already had relationships with multiple other ponies, which meant that she couldn’t have been an Everglow native at the time of their first encounter. Nor was it plausible that some Everglow doppelganger had gone to Equestria to replace her at some point after their first meeting; very few ponies here had the ability to traverse planar barriers, and of those who did, none knew that Equestria even existed.
No, that’s not true, realized Lex a moment later. There was one pony here who had both knowledge of Equestria and sufficient magic to go there at will:
Iliana, the queen of the Pony Empire.
Lex’s brow furrowed as he followed that line of thought. Iliana was supposed to be a sorceress of peerless ability, and he knew that Twilight Sparkle had divulged Equestria’s existence to her in exchange for help returning home. Could Celestia’s pupil have asked this world’s pony queen for help in undermining his rule? Was the doppelganger in the nearby building an operative that Iliana had sent to get close to him, replacing the real Thermal Draft back on Equestria?
But almost as soon as those thoughts slid through Lex’s mind, he discarded them. No such imposter could have taken Thermal Draft’s place prior to her resurrection; the magic that had brought her back to life had required him to unambiguously identify her, which he’d done by name. It wouldn’t have been fooled by a false identity.
And he’d seen her cutie mark when she’d come back to life; the same cutie mark worn by the doppelganger in there now.
While it wasn’t unknown for two ponies to have the same cutie mark – during their brief time together, Twilight had told him about two of her friends, a mare named Minuette and a stallion named Doctor Hooves, both of whom had hourglass marks – it was still extremely rare. The idea that Iliana would have sent somepony to spy on him was already farfetched. That she’d just so happened to find a doppelganger pony whose brand of destiny was the same as Thermal Draft’s cutie mark was a coincidence so remote it was impossible to take seriously.
Which meant that, as impossible as it seemed, the unconscious doppelganger lying in the building behind him was the real Thermal Draft.
Somehow, she’d changed from being a pegasus to being one of Everglow’s doppelganger ponies.
When it had happened was difficult to guess, though the deal she’d made with Prevarius likely had something to do with it. That idea was full of holes, the biggest one being why she simply hadn’t told him that was the case, but it made more sense than any alternative theories. Either way, the transformation had to have happened after she’d come to this world; prior to then, she’d had no magic of her own to effect the change.
As for how it had happened, that was less important than whether or not he could change her back.
The obvious solution was to use the ritual he’d developed to fix ponies with mutated bodies, but Lex didn’t dare put that into practice now. Rituals relied on a painstakingly long series of extremely specific incantations and gestures. Now that he had a new body, with limbs which ended in multiple digits rather than hooves, he’d need to reacquaint himself with how to perform the requisite somatic functions before he attempted such delicate work. He could walk around and use basic motor skills without difficulty thanks to the instincts of the creature he’d absorbed, but anything more intricate would require time to get used to, as the gouge marks on the floor behind him could attest.
Attempting to change Thermal Draft back was therefore something which would have to wait.
Though that was the case anyway, since regardless of whether she was a pegasus or a doppelganger, Paska’s curse was still killing her.
“WOOF!!”
The bark, uttered in unison several times over and accompanied by the sound of heavy steps coming his way, drew Lex out of his ruminating. “Whatever it is, it will have to wait, Teyu.”
Across from him, Teyu Yagua’s seven heads all blinked as one, before the one closest to him strained forward, sniffing rapidly.
When it started to growl, Lex cursed inwardly, realizing what the problem one. “Teyu, it’s me. Lex Legis. The one who fed you and brought you here, remember?”
Holding up his wire-wrapped foreleg, Lex hoped he was getting through to the thing. His appearance – and, likely, his scent – weren’t the same as the pony the simpleminded creature had met only a few hours ago. No doubt it was having trouble reconciling the parts of him which were familiar with those that weren’t. “I know I seem different now, but I’m still the same individual you met before.”
Seven soft whines were his answer this time, and Lex held back a sigh, wishing he could simply imbue the thing with the ability to talk again. But that depended on the Charismata, which was still temporarily expended. Nor was his inability to give Teyu the power to communicate all that he was incapable of right now, despite the results of his sojourn to Darkest Night.
Lex had come to the Shrine of the Starless Sky in hopes of becoming an alicorn. Instead, he’d transformed into something else entirely. But despite his new body being very far from the blend of pony tribes that he’d been striving for, there was one way in which it resembled what he’d originally sought:
With a body this resilient, it was possible to channel magical power through it far in excess of what he’d been able to before.
He’d already confirmed that twice over. Despite having no dark magic left in reserve when he’d entered the Confluence, now he could easily see through the Keeper’s otherwise-impermeable cloak of darkness, something which had taxed him heavily when he’d originally tried it. More than that, he’d been able to augment his circlet’s ability to see into the magical spectrum just now – when he’d been examining Thermal Draft’s doppelganger body – without feeling any noticeable strain.
And since he could apparently produce magic items, within certain limits, from nothing now via his tulpa, that offered a staggering array of possibilities. Perhaps even more than if he had become an alicorn.
But right now, none of those possibilities could be actualized, for the very simple reason that – for all his new body's remarkable fortitude and ability to withstand punishment – Lex could feel that he was still thoroughly depleted.
It wasn’t just that the Charismata hadn’t yet replenished itself, or that his few divine spells were as-yet unrenewed. He’d barely been able to stand before he’d entered the Confluence, having expended the last of his reserves bringing Teyu Yagua back here. Nor had the spiritual journey to the Night Mare’s realm given him a chance to rest; if anything, it had only exhausted him all the more. Even that creature he’d merged with, with its supernatural tenacity, had been badly injured when he’d brought it back with him.
That level of enervation was easier to bear now, but it was still keeping him from seeing just what this body was truly capable of.
With the strength that his new physique offered him, Lex had no doubt that once the Charismata was available for him to use again, he’d be able to channel a great deal more power into it, potentially enough to grant Solvei the ability to lift Thermal Draft’s curse outright. Or perhaps he’d be able to bring forth a restorative item and then augment it to a level sufficient to heal her completely. Or any of the myriad other possibilities that were now open to him.
Or which would be open to him, once he rested and recovered.
But I can’t do that, Lex decided as he turned his back on Teyu – the gigantic thing laying down with a huff, apparently satisfied that he was who he said he was – and resumed his march toward the cathedral. Not until I’ve confirmed that whatever it is the Keeper brought here can’t be of any immediate use in curing Thermal Draft’s condition.
The odds of that were unlikely in the extreme, to the point of being only slightly more plausible than the idea that the doppelganger really was an imposter whose brand of destiny just so happened to match Thermal Draft’s cutie mark. But even if it was highly improbable, Lex knew he had to investigate the possibility. Compared to how long he’d likely need to rest in order to fully recover his strength, it was better to take a few minutes to confront the Keeper now, lest whatever he was hiding actually have the potential to help Thermal Draft before she deteriorated further.
His moral code demanded nothing less.
“My lord, preliminary reports suggest that Lex Legis is still alive.”
Despite bracing himself for it ahead of time, the pain that washed over him a moment later still made Carbon Fiber scream. Just like every other time that Steel Soul had punished him for bringing bad news, the torrent of agony left him writhing on the ground, his organic and psibernetic limbs all flailing uselessly as he waited for his master to grow tired of torturing him.
Fortunately, this time the pain abated in seconds, which Carbon Fiber took to be a good sign. He lived in terror of the idea that Steel Soul would someday turn his pain-inducer on and never deactivate it. Fear of that drove him to work as hard as he could to make sure his master’s plans came to fruition, quashing any thoughts of lying to, running from, or worst of all, rebelling against the one who controlled his fate.
Only dedicated and successful service would save him from an eternity of never-ending pain.
As so many creatures had found out over the years, that was what it meant to serve Steel Soul.
“How could he still be alive?!” seethed the mechanical pony in question, slamming a metal hoof down hard enough to make Carbon Fiber wince as he picked himself up off the floor. “How?! Even if that aurumvorax wasn’t able to finish him off, it should have weakened him enough for something else to get the job done!”
“Aerial reconnaissance of his last known location, including spectral imaging of a nearby ravine filled with exsanguinating vapors, showed signs of a struggle, but no bodies,” answered Carbon Fiber grimly. “A survey drone subsequently sent into the area detected indicators of a fight having happened inside the ravine, but showed no clues to suggest that it was then exited. Together with the lack of bodies, there’s a high likelihood-”
He couldn’t finish as another round of machine-induced agony left him screaming on the floor. “When I want your meager suppositions, I’ll tell you!”
This time the pain lasted longer, and when it finally ended Carbon Fiber found that he needed several moments to recover. Fortunately, Steel Soul didn’t seem to care that he wasn’t immediately leaping to attention. “If Lex Legis had been eaten by that aurumvorax, there’d be some indication of it!” hissed the psibernetic stallion, his tone one of barely-repressed fury.
“Even if his blood was all drained away, there’d be scraps of clothing or shards of bone or something! If not from him, then certainly from one of his slaves! But since there’s nothing, they must have found whatever it was they were looking for out in the hinterlands and then returned to the Material Plane! Which means that Lex Legis is now free to keep plotting against me with complete impunity because I STILL DON’T KNOW WHERE HE’S FROM!!!”
Fearing that another round of agony was incoming, Carbon Fiber struggled to get his voice under control. “M-my lord! I’m pleased to say that we’ve had a breakthrough in that area!”
Silence reigned for several moments, before Steel Soul spoke up again, his voice much quieter. “You’re saying that you’ve found the location of Lex Legis’ home world?”
“I believe so.”
Cold blue eyes glowed brighter. “You believe so?”
Fighting down a surge of terror, Carbon Fiber hastened to correct himself. “What I meant was, we’ve found a local denizen who claims to have been there.”
“Is that so?” sneered Steel Soul, his voice filled with scorn. “And just how did they reach a world whose coordinates are known only to Severance and the Night Mare?”
“They said they were summoned there by Lex Legis himself.”
This time, when Steel Soul paused, Carbon Fiber activated a nearby monitor, one whose subject had been prepared in advance. As the screen flickered to life, it showed an equinoid – one without wings or a horn – strapped down to a table, its legs, tail, waist, and neck all bound by thick metal cuffs. Despite this, it was struggling to get free, its thrashing serving to accomplish nothing except to make the scabs covering its entire body flake off, only for them to grow back again a moment later.
“It calls itself Harrowing Ordeal,” explained Carbon Fiber. “And I believe that it can tell us how to find Equestria, where Lex Legis comes from.”
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I havent actually read this yet (and I honestly don't know if I'm going to), but great job on creating a fic that has a million words in it :)
11435886 Thanks! When I started writing this, I had no idea it would go this long, and probably would have been too intimidated to start if I had!
That said, I do hope you give it a chance!
Wonder how he will get rid of steel soul if he even can. They can't clash directly so this has to be a proxy battle unless there is a reason The Nightmare will let them duck it out. apart from that hopefully the item is useful in some way.
11436276 It's fairly ironic that Lex and Steel Soul can't confront each other directly. Even leaving aside that they're on different planes of existence right now, the Night Mare doesn't want her champions slugging it out; as you noted, this is likely to be a proxy war, though given that Steel Soul is on the verge of discovering Equestria, Lex might not like just who the proxies are in this conflict. Of course, I suspect that the Night Mare would tell Lex that just means he needs to do a better job of governing Equestria (if and when he gets back there).
As for what Lex is hoping to find from the Keeper...well, I suppose we'll see how that goes.
Depending how things go, Steel Soul might end up having to deal with an infestation of extra planar polydimentional memetic lifeforms all wanting just one simple thing.
Fun, fun, FUN, fUn, FUn,
11436315 I suspect that Pinkie's "party magic" (i.e. the magic of her cutie mark) isn't quite that powerful. She can be wacky and unpredictable, but not to the point where it'd protect her if anyone with real (combat) power attacked her.
11436329
Im thinking of she didnt immediately explode when stuffed full of Chaos power, demigod class?
11436362 That Pinkie seemed to be in tune with Discord's magic wasn't too surprising; her "party magic" seems to be similar to what he can do, albeit far, far more limited in scale. But in theory anyone can use that power, since we saw Cozy Glow absorb it successfully; it's just that figuring out how to make it do what you want is much harder for someone who isn't already coco-loco (as Pinkie would say).
Though personally, given that it seemed to drive even Pinkie a little nuts, I'd look askance on her saying how Discord's magic would let her reshape the entire cosmos anyway.
11436378
Dont have to change the Entire Cosmos. You just have to move this single Quantum Chaos butterfly, from Here.
To Here.
And the Cosmos will do everything else all by itself.
Failing that. turn a Z into an S.
11436394 Things like that are why I use a system of game rules, which are largely geared to prevent creative exploits of abilities to turn them into "win buttons," as the basis for how things work in this story.
Well, it appears that Harrowing Ordeal likely tried to bargain with Steel Soul's faction in an attempt to get back at Lex, only to to get more than he had bargained. Or Steel Soul's subordinate decided to gather information and encountered the poor sod.
Regardless, it seems that Lex will have a lot more to deal with should Steel Soul find a way to get to Equestria. The only upside is that he can't get at Lex directly even if he locates Lex. I pity the poor sod that will end up as his proxy against Lex.
11436731 At this point, the best result (for Lex) is that Steel Soul can't get any useful information out of Harrowing Ordeal, and Equestria is left alone. The worst-case scenario is, well...considerably worse. Though to be fair, I doubt the Night Mare would want anyone interrupting the spread of her religion, which Lex has played a central role in. But given what we know about Steel Soul's disposition, he'll clearly find some loophole or other way to stymie Lex's ambitions.
So yeah, even if he manages to get back to Equestria, Lex might not like what's happened in his absence. Of course, with his disappearance and presumed death, there's no guarantee that things are progressing in a manner he'd approve of anyway.