This story is a sequel to The Apple Falls Far from the Tree
(While this story is a direct continuation of an existing plotline, it has been written to be accessible all on its own. You do not need to have read the previous works to understand and enjoy what's here.)
Recently returned from the world of Everglow, Lex Legis, a brusque but brilliant unicorn, has finally achieved his dream...after a fashion. Convinced that he can govern Equestria better than the alicorn princesses, he and his new girlfriend, Sonata Dusk, have negotiated for rulership of the distant city of Vanhoover, devastated in the wake of the elemental chaos that has rocked Equestria.
But Vanhoover's problems go far beyond simple disaster-relief, and the pair soon come to learn that maintaining their dreams might be even more difficult – and more dangerous – than achieving them ever was.
Cover art created by the exceptionally talented Little Tigress.
"It’s a thrilling page-turner of a piece that I looked forward to seeing every day." -Paul Asaran, Paul's Thursday Reviews.
“A wonderful story that will capture your attention, the surprises are everywhere, behind all corners. Keep your eyes open for this art piece of the unexpected.” -Firefoxino, My Little Reviews & Feedback.
"This story gets a 9/10, and I initially thought it had all the obvious external hallmarks of a badfic." -kalash93, Reviewers Cafe.
"So, this fic is a shoe-in for enjoyable." -Karibela, Blunt Reviews Group.
The personalities of both shine through. It's nice to see dear Sonata back, and I'm not even writing her! I'm sure she'll help keep Lex on target, so he can use his natural talents best.
Not to say she can't be distracted on her own. They're good for each other in a lot of little ways.
Their first obstacle is laid before them, and they're not even in the half-destroyed city yet! Has service been suspended due to instability and infastructure damage? Let's find out!
6592822 Thanks! I'm trying to make sure that Sonata is recognizable, since keeping the same tone when handing a character from one author to another can be tricky.
So far the two of them seem to be doing fine; at this point, they're still using their natural strengths to cover each other's weaknesses, which is what makes for a strong couple. The trick will be to see if they can keep doing that, and not have their dynamic fall apart, when they're under pressure...such as the pressure of not being able to get where they're going!
A loose end gets its long-awaited resolution. So far, both characters are flowing naturally from where David left them. Tracking, and I'll try to keep my comments off the politics.
the
6593228 My very first typo! Thanks for catching that.
More seriously, thanks for the comment about the characters seeming true to their previous depictions (though that was easily done for Lex, since he'd always been written by me). I look forward to your insights and reactions, and I'll likewise try to keep the politics to the story, and not in the comments section.
6593293 One thing is a little odd. Either the railroad knowingly sold them tickets to an unavailable destination, they boarded the wrong train and nopony checked their tickets, or the rail line was recently broken and the conductor should have announced it. Otherwise, they would have discovered this problem several days ago.
Then again, I don't suppose anybody wants to read about the whole three days of train ride, so a little fudging to save time makes sense from a storytelling perspective.
So glad to see these characters continued, I can't wait to see Lex and Sonata teaming up in Vanhoover.
6594063 Oh, there's an explanation for this, and it's in the next chapter.
6594416 Thanks! It's great that people are excited to see what happens with these two!
Hehe, you have to be careful never to take journalists too seriously; they're just trying to get a reaction out of people.
Extra word
demands and
6595445 Typos fixed. Thanks for that!
As for the mysterious headline...that will be revealed next chapter!
Now he can use his awesome magic to repair the tracks?
6597567 Maybe...or maybe not. The details of Lex's magic has been one card, or rather, one set of cards, that he's consistently played close to the vest, giving only brief glimpses of the details regarding how they work.
That's not to say those details haven't been thoroughly defined, however. I have a character sheet for Lex that lists exactly what powers he does and doesn't have. I find that very helpful when determining what he can do in response to a given situation.
Wow. That ego. Two months is a pretty quick response time for a religion that was founded after the elemental incursions.
Did the devil on Lex's shoulder just become his moral compass? That has some very disturbing implications.
It's not a big deal. All he has to do is order the acolytes to do what they are already doing, and the masses will see him as a leader. Taking credit for the hard work of others is the foundation of politics, regardless of your platform.
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Yeah, I wanted to put more in there about how it seemed oddly fast that new clerics could have cropped up in such a short period of time, but since there's no real guideline for that, and since oracles and other spontaneous divine spellcasters can crop up almost overnight (and because I'm using the Pathfinder character class rules more as a guideline, since I prefer an alternate approach to character-building), I left all of that out.
So long as it has ways it can needle him, it will. He holds himself to very high standards of conduct, and so if there's any way he could be worried that he's not living up to them, his shadow will rub it in his face.
That's also an area I wanted to flesh out more; instead, I tried to make it self-evident that, since any such clerics would have both a temporal (e.g. Cadance) and religious (e.g. Lashtada) authority, then it would have been hard for Lex to claim that he was responsible for their good work, even if he was able to claim to be a local authority figure.
I like seeing Lex rationalize things out loud, and then his shadow call him on his own BS. I can't wait to meet the Vancouver priests of
shippingLashtada. I feel like it will be very helpful to Lex to have a marefriend when he meets with them. Perhaps even a dark bargain will be worked out, where Lex is allowed to claim a large share of the credit for the divine relief efforts, if only he will take Sonata out on proper dates like a good Lashtadite would?Yeah, I think Lex and Sonata need to put something in the budget for a small airship, because trains and them just don't seem to mix.
Also. given Celestia's reluctance to allow divine magic into Equestria, I doubt she was involved in this. Luna, maybe, but more likely this is all of Cadance's own initiative and the timing just happens to match.
Aw, they are adorable together. One only hopes Lex learns to enjoy what is before him, though to not is a very common human failing.
Damn trains, why does anypony trust them? I like your story so far! I will gladly read on.
6599419 I have the impression that obsessing over what he wants, rather than valuing what he has, is one of Lex's myriad flaws. But given how he was able to be captivated by how pretty Sonata looked during this chapter, there may be hope for him yet.
6597915 The fact that Lex is in a loving relationship will definitely give him a boost with any worshippers of Lashtada that he meets. I also suspect that Sonata would welcome an arrangement like the one you describe.
And yeah, Lex can try and spin things all he wants, but his shadow makes it quite literally impossible - or at least exceptionally difficult - to lie to himself.
6598218 It'll be amusing to consider if they ever get into a third train-related accident. Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, but three times is deliberate action.
As for whether or not Lex's suspicions are correct...that remains to be seen.
6599440 Thanks! I'm excited to actually be writing it!
I would think they would be able to turn the train around at the first station on the way back, since trains presumably go both ways. Then again, Equestria's rail infrastructure is not given much screen time in the show, so it's all headcanon.
Sorries
100 miles. That's two full days of quick marching, even if they cut into their sleeping time. I hope they brought camping supplies. The way their luck is going, getting to Vanhoover is going to be the final climax of the story.
6601198
I was operating under the idea that only certain major cities would have a railway turntable. To be fair, they could have a wye instead, but that struck me as less practical given that these trains tend to have quite a few cars that they pull.
I'm pretty sure that shouldn't be capitalized, because her dialogue there isn't the beginning of a new sentence, hence the comma that precedes the opening quotation mark.
They do seem to be having a difficult time of it so far, don't they?
6601645
"Sorries" is the start of a new sentence of dialogue, since "hmm" concluded with a period, and "She repeated the process..." is a new sentence.
The mystery thickens! Lex can see something, but neither knows what.
6602256 I did some checking, and it turns out you're right! Correction made.
6602765 It's nice to have Lex get a chance to show off his much-vaunted intelligence, rather than just be irascible all the time.
6603462 Seeing the problem is step #1. What you do with it, that's the real catch.
6603459 I think it's hilarious that we are getting all technical about the grammar in anything that Sonata says, since she perpetually talks like an eight-year-old on a sugar high.
6604002 Totes!
The plot thickens! I feel like it wouldn't be a dragon, because why would a dragon tear off a random stretch of rail in the road? The only reason I can think of is to stall the train for an attack to steal a bunch of gems and riches from the ponies on the trains. But if the dragon (or any other creature) was going to do that, they would attack as soon as the train stopped, and that hasn't happened. For the same reason it doesn't seem to be a dragon, I can't think what else it would be that would do this but not attack a stalled train. The only other motive I can think of is some mysterious force doesn't want Lex and Sonata to reach Van Hoover, but they would have to know that Sonata accidentally put them on a different train line.
Also, I like that Lex's not overpowered and able to fix anything with his magic, this makes him a more interesting character.
6604470 Thanks for the insightful comment! Well-thought-out responses are what makes this all worthwhile to write!
Ascertaining the motive is one of the key instances of figuring out who (or what) is behind a particular wrongdoing, but what motive would a creature have for tearing up a stretch of track, and otherwise ignoring the trains that follow it? Curious, very curious...
Also, I completely agree with you in that limits make characters more interesting. Lex has a great deal of capability, but it's very far from giving him a plethora of viable options in every situation he runs into.
Don't slay the dragon. Charm it!
Forgive me for stating the obvious, but that is a really long sentence.
They don't call it "handy" for nothing. It may not be wise to call too much attention to Pathfinder's careless use of hammerspace luggage, lest you make it seem less like a story and more like a game.
This is a catch up chapter. The smooch at the end made it worth it, amusingly. To the dragon!
6606189 Having a story that's a sequel to a sequel means that virtually no one is going to come into the story sight-unseen. I wanted to have a chapter that put the major elements of the backstory front-and-center, so that on the off chance that anyone was giving this a shot without having read the previous two works, they'd have some idea of what the basic setup was.
6605771 Apparently the way to do that is to offer it a fake mustache; hey, it works on baby dragons and sea monsters, after all!
6605958
Long, but not technically a run-on!
Heward knew his stuff, even if his name doesn't get invoked too often anymore (darn legal restrictions!).
I'm not entirely sure what you mean here. I'm presuming you're warning against getting too bogged down in explaining game elements rather than plot and character advancement, right?