Fruit Crunch was so excited he was almost shaking.
This is it! This is really it! Grinning, he looked back at where Cleansweep was healing Lex, the stallion climbing to his hooves with a groan. We’re gonna fight together with him, and take down the princesses! The thought made him want to prance in place, and he was only barely able to keep the urge down, not wanting to look ridiculous in front of his hero. After this, he’ll HAVE to take me-, er, us as his apprentices! In the meantime, the most important thing was that they all made a good showing of themselves so that Lex didn’t chastise them later.
“Everypony, form up around Lex!” he yelled, making sure to keep his eyes on Princess Luna as he walked backwards, stepping carefully until he was right in front of Cleansweep. A moment later Straightlace, Fiddlesticks, and Feathercap joined him, along with their spirit animals…save only for Ulespy, Feathercap’s owl, who was currently circling high overhead. Looking back at Lex, Fruit Crunch tried not to grin like an idiot as he spoke. “Are you alright?”
“What are you doing here?” growled Lex, a baleful look on his face. “I told you I didn’t want you putting yourselves in danger anymore!”
One hoof still against his side as she channeled more healing energy into him, Cleansweep rolled her eyes. “Sorry we came to rescue you,” she muttered sarcastically. “You can chew us out after we’ve helped you win.”
Venin twisted around Cleansweep’s belly, moving so her head was near the filly’s ear. Respect, she chided gently. The Lord Sovereign’s words are borne of concern for you, not scorn.
Straightlace shot Lex a grateful look. “In that case, you don’t need to worry. I’ve made everyone a lot harder to hurt, and Fiddlesticks did this thing so that we’re all a lot tougher than normal.”
The proper term, corrected Nemel, Fiddlesticks’ badger, is that she infused you all with a supply of vital essence, so that-
“Princess Celestia’s moving!” whispered Feathercap. He wasn’t looking up as he said it; in fact, his eyes were closed, and Fruit Crunch knew that he was looking through Ulespy’s eyes, surveying the battlefield from above.
Sure enough, Celestia landed next to Luna a second later. “Are you alright, Sister?”
“I won’t be using my horn anytime soon,” admitted Luna, “but otherwise I’m fine.” Despite her words, one hoof came up to rub at her stomach gingerly. Even so, she kept her eyes on the half-dozen ponies standing across from them. “Something’s wrong with those children, though. They have powers they shouldn’t be in possession of.”
“I’d noticed,” murmured Celestia as she glanced at Fiddlesticks. But her gaze hardened a moment later as she raised her head. “ALL ROYAL GUARDS!” she called, her voice suddenly stentorian, “TO MY POSITION!”
Lex tensed, as did the Knights. “We’ve got incoming!” whispered Feathercap, his eyes closed again. “There’s six…ten…twelve guards heading this way! And those ones you guys knocked down before are getting back up!”
But it was at that moment that Cleansweep took her hoof away from Lex. “Okay, you’re all patched up!”
“Yes!” Fruit Crunch pumped a hoof in triumph before looking at Lex expectantly. “Okay, so what’s the plan?” When Lex didn’t answer immediately, Fruit Crunch followed his eyes to where he was looking, seeing Severance held in his aura high above them. “Ooh! Is it time to call down the thunder on them?!” He wasn’t sure why Lex was holding Severance in reserve, but he had no doubt that there was a good reason for it, and that when the time was right he’d bring it out and totally take Celestia and Luna out! And then, after we’ve won, he’ll sit down and talk things out with them and everything will be A-okay! After all, that was how it always went in the comic books whenever new heroes met each other. They always got into a fight for some reason, and then worked things out afterward.
There was no further time to ponder the matter as Lex suddenly spoke up. “Both of you,” he roared at Celestia and Luna, “stand down immediately!” He pointed a hoof at Cleansweep. “This filly has healing magic! If Silhouette is still alive, she might be able to save him!”
Luna’s reaction to his proposal was immediate. “DON’T YOU DARE SAY HIS NAME!” she screamed, suddenly furious.
The bizarre exchange was enough to make Fruit Crunch look at his friends, seeing the same confusion on their faces that he knew was on his. “Wait, what’s going on with Silhouette?” he murmured, looking back at Lex. He intended to ask a follow-up question, but didn’t get a chance as he caught something out of his peripheral vision, looking down to see a trickle of blood running down Lex’s foreleg from where the barbed wire was wrapped around it. Huh? But Dust Bunny said she healed all his wounds…
Oblivious to the foals’ confusion, Celestia stepped forward, her face hard as she glared at Lex. “You’re not trustworthy,” she announced, even as members of the Royal Guard started to form up around her, all of them sending hateful looks Lex’s way. “You pledged to meet with us in peace, only to make a cowardly attempt on my sister’s life. You brought children onto a battlefield to fight for you when you realized you couldn’t defeat us alone. Do you truly expect us to believe that you have noble intentions now?”
The answer made Lex’s eyes flash, the green and purple flaring brighter in reaction to his mounting anger. “You idiots!” he roared. “This is more important than your petty animosity! We have to act now, while there’s still a chance of saving an injured pony’s life!”
But Celestia appeared unmoved. “You-” She stopped talking as the last of the Royal Guard joined her, the stallion moving in close and whispering something in her ear before joining his fellows. The message made Celestia close her eyes for a moment, a look of grief crossing her face before she composed herself. “There’s no chance of that now,” she announced sadly. “The doctors here just pronounced Silhouette dead.”
Lex’s eyes narrowed at the news, and he looked upward at Severance again, a hateful expression on his face. His lips parted, but he didn’t have a chance to say anything as Luna took a single step forward, tears in her eyes and fury in her words. “You,” she proclaimed in a voice replete with dark judgment, “are a murderer, unfit to live in the presence of good and decent ponies, let alone rule over them!” She pointed a hoof at Lex, and all of the Knights flinched at the gesture, though Lex didn’t. “Now you shall face justice for what you’ve done!”
Celestia moved forward so that she was standing alongside her sister. “For all your pretensions of grandeur, you’re no better than the last pony who possessed that horn of yours. But we are.” She copied Luna’s gesture then, pointing at him ominously. “Send those children away, and surrender that weapon you’re holding, and you’ll be allowed to live out the remainder of your days in Tartarus. Continue resisting, and I cannot guarantee what will happen to you.”
Fruit Crunch gulped. All of a sudden this wasn’t fun anymore. But it was Feathercap who spoke up, looking at Lex nervously. “What’re they talking about, Lex? What’s going on?”
That doesn’t matter! came Altaer’s sharp rebuke, causing the foals to flinch. Have you all so little faith in the First Convoker that you would allow your hearts to be shaken so easily?
Indeed, added Lyden gruffly, the wolf padding over to stand in front of Lex both physically and symbolically. After having proven his honor so many times, the High Alpha deserves your trust.
Cleansweep bit her lip, looking between Lex, the alicorns, and back at the train station uncertainly. “Yeah, but-”
“I can bring Silhouette back!” shouted Lex. The statement was enough to make everyone around him fall silent, the foals’ eyes widening in amazement at the claim. Across from him, Celestia and Luna were quite obviously far more skeptical, wearing matching frowns. But Lex was undeterred, reaching back toward one of his saddlebags. “I have a magic item in my possession that can-, NNNNGH!!!” But his explanation was interrupted as, moments before he touched the fabric of the bag, the barbed wire on his foreleg began to rotate quickly, the sharp points slicing through his skin as easily as if it was paper, sending gouts of blood flying.
Fruit Crunch cried out in shock at the sight, and he wasn’t the only one. All of his friends were equally horrified, and across from him he was peripherally aware of almost all of the Royal Guards gasping and watching in wide-eyed horror. Even Celestia and Luna looked stunned, jaws hanging open at the gory display.
“L-LEX!” yelled Fruit Crunch, running toward him only to stop as he realized he had no idea what to do. Desperate, he looked around until his eyes fell on Cleansweep. “Dust Bunny! Do something!”
“Huh?” She sent him an uncomprehending look, clearly still struggling with the shock of what was happening.
“Heal him!” yelled Fruit Crunch.
“N-no!” Lex’s refusal was given around gritted teeth, his eyes blazing brighter as he forced himself to stand up straight. “I…can bear this!” he snarled. “My will…takes precedence here…! Not that…miserable nag’s…!” Breathing heavily, he reached back and dug through his saddlebag, the cloth immediately turning red as the wire sped up its rotation around his leg. But Lex wouldn’t be deterred, and although his expression was one of controlled agony, he slowly withdrew a large ruby, holding it out toward the princesses shakily. “With this…” he rasped, “I can bring…Silhouette back…to life…!”
Celestia and Luna shared a look, the two of them visibly unnerved at the display. But a moment later they’d regained their resolve, and Luna spoke up. “Whatever game you’re playing…whatever trick this is, it won’t work. Silhouette will be restored to life, but by Cadance, not you.”
“For the last time, stand down,” added Celestia. “We won’t warn you again.”
Lex held his position for a moment, as if silently confirming their positions, and when neither alicorn said anything else, he slowly lowered his hoof. As soon as he did, the barbed wire ceased to move, but the only sign Lex gave that he’d noticed was a quiet grunt. Instead, he put the ruby back into the bloody bag before giving the Royal Sisters a dark look. But his next words weren’t for them, being spoken quietly enough that they didn’t carry more than a few feet. “I want all of you to leave here immediately. Go hide in the train station until-”
“No way.”
Looking over at Fruit Crunch, Lex scowled. “What did you say?”
The question was quite clearly a warning rather than a query, but although the colt was still pale because of what had just happened, he met Lex’s gaze straight on. “A little while ago I asked you to give me a chance, to give all of us,” he waved a hoof at his friends, “a chance. But right now, those two,” he pointed at Celestia and Luna next, “aren’t giving you a chance.” He took a step closer to him then. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I’m not going to run and hide while you’re out here fighting for your life.” He stomped a hoof then. “Even if you yell at me again later, I’m staying right here and fighting alongside you!”
Well said. A smile could be heard in Lyden’s mental voice as he moved to stand next to Fruit Crunch. That’s the spirit that earned the Supreme Predator’s recognition.
Lex glowered at the pair, but before he could say anything, Fiddlesticks stepped forward. “It’s thanks to you that my little brother is okay now. When he grows up, I don’t want to tell him that I didn’t do anything when the pony who saved us was in trouble.”
Nemel trundled forward, coming to a stop between the filly’s forelegs as she looked up at Lex. When any one of us makes a stand, the others will always come to their aid, especially when it’s you, Exalted Primogenitor.
“E-even if you use that power of yours to send our animals away, w-we’ll just come back as soon as it wears off,” added Feathercap timidly, half-hiding his face behind his binoculars even as he stepped forward.
As it sensing the importance of the moment, Ulespy fluttered down and settled on the colt’s back. We’re resolved to see this through to the end alongside you, Grand Vizier, ventured the owl.
Fluttering her wings enough so that she was hovering in the air, Cleansweep gave Lex an helpless shrug. “Well, if my friends are staying, then I guess I’m staying too.” She stuck her tongue out at him playfully then. “Just don’t curse us for this later, okay?”
Coiled carefully around Cleansweep’s middle so that she didn’t interfere with her wings, Venin leaned her head forward. You are our benefactor, Lord Sovereign. Even if it means being disobedient, we would never abandon you.
Straightlace smiled, the expression not diminishing his look of resolve. “I was always quoting my dad before, but from now on I’m going to make some quotes of my own, starting with this one: the Night Mare’s Knights don’t run. Ever.”
From his perch on one of Straightlace’s outstretched forelegs, Altaer fluttered his wings. These young ones are your disciples, First Convoker. Please allow them to honor you now.
Lex didn’t respond immediately, looking at the foals and their animals, then the alicorns – who tensed in readiness, the guards alongside them doing the same – and finally up at Severance before returning his gaze to the Knights. “This isn’t what I wanted,” he growled bitterly. “And if I had the ability, I’d force you all to leave right now…” His gaze lingered on Feathercap, clearly remembering what the colt had said about them returning even if he used the Night Mare’s power to make the animals chase them away. Finally, he sighed, turning back to the alicorns even as he kept speaking to the foals.
“You all focus on the guards. Leave Celestia and Luna to me.”
Smart on Celestia to use her guards.
Lex's thinking on healing/raising Silouette is brilliant, shame it didn't work out. This does raise a question about the loyalties of the animals though. I don't think we yet understand the full extent of their nature, but obviously they are not directly in communication with the Night Mare or Severance, as they seem to believe Lex is still on team Night Mare. However, that bleeding barbed wire should be a pretty heavy clue that there is a split between Lex and the Night Mare. I'm surprised the animals didn't voice any concerns, given they seem like a pretty smart and perceptive set. But perhaps they are keeping such concerns private until after the fight.
However this fight ends, I think the alliance between Lex and the Night Mare is pretty much over. If Lex loses, he is probably headed to Tartarus, where he will be of no further use to the Night Mare. If he wins, Mr. No-Compromise is going to have to face the fact that Severance (and the Night Mare, as he seems to be pretty much an extension of her will) murdered a pony in cold blood, violating Lex's rule #1.
I strongly suspect Celestia and Luna might press Lex hard enough that he loses control of Severance, in which case Luna could also be killed.
Anyway, at the end of this fight, if/when Lex denounces the Night Mare. Which way will the Nightmare Knights jump? Towards the Progenitor/Supreme Predator, or their actual divine patron?
(Now, if the Night Mare and Severance were more sneaky like Kara, they'd cut their losses, gather the Nightmare Knights up, and teleport them somewhere far away to start up a new cult without any busybody adults telling kids they can't make pacts with dark gods. But that's not their style).
I'm really not clear on what's supposed to have happened to Luna's horn. There was some sort of called shot involved? I mean, the spell was obviously Scorching Ray which just does ordinary fire damage and doesn't disable body parts, unless you're a using some of the weird rogue talents maybe. I don't think Lex has sneak attack though.
And is the idea that the Alicorns have absolutely no access to healing of any kind?
Even if Lex just walks off and leaves Celestia and Luna to Severance, they wont look at it as being self targeted and be so confused by Lexs behaviour that Severance would slaughter them, as only Discord has the same dimentional, plane shift as Xiriel used, and even so, Severance came back?
9652621
Well, it's unclear how much direct control Night Mare has over Severance at the moment, but yeah, given the way her barbed wire thing is acting, she's not opposed to its actions...which honestly is downright stupid of her. Either she has direct control over Severance or she's going along with its actions and sabotaging any attempts Lex makes to try and salvage the situation, but either way she's shooting herself in the hoof and costing her one remaining foothold into Equestria.
We all knew Lex's belief in protecting and preserving innocent(pony) lives is unquestionably one of the higher priorities of his personal code of conduct but I never knew that it'd be so high that he'd be willing to give up his only(for now?) chance at learning how to bring back Cloudbank and the others he lost just like that.
Well, that and flat out telling everyone in the vicinity of his ability to bring someone back from the dead and given how fast rumors spread in the camp, Lex just planted the seed for more trouble for him in his future(as usual). The only upside to this is that the rumor might be buried under talk of the fight here and promptly forgotten and even then Lex is going to have more problems than not.
Still, given how shocked everyone, especially the princesses were at what the Night Mare's barb hurt Lex, I see a potential avenue for a potentially peaceful resolution. Now if we had someone to capitalize on that fact. And speaking of the Night Mare, I was mildly surprised at how Lex allowed the Knights to help him but as he said, he has no choice though I do wonder if he's sending them to deal with the guards is to have them subdue the foals like they had done during the ritual and take them away from the fight. But given their abilities, they can probably hold out against the guards.
Either way, the foals and the guards will be kept out of the fight and away from Severance's deadly blade.
9653064 Eh, it's a tough call. Luna is a divine being and in many ways her biggest rival/competitor for her portfolio in Equestria. A chance to strike her down now, before she becomes too powerful, is of overwhelming value to the Night Mare. If the Night Mare had her priest back and the Nightmare Knights elsewhere to continue spreading the faith, I could see her being willing to lose Lex entirely as a trade for Luna dying.
But as it stands, it seems like she is too eager and could lose it all. I can't imagine both Luna and Severance walking away from this fight, and if Luna dies a bunch of foals who saw their princess carved up by Severance are probably going to dump the Night Mare real fast, even if Severance and their animal "guides" assure them over and over that it was a fair fight, Luna was totally asking for it, etc. Same with Cloudy being willing to follow such a being.
It definitely feels like Severance was acting not out of careful planning, but of rash hatred to the Equestrian equivalent of the Night Mare's greatest rival. I could see the Night Mare being very disappointed in Severance at the end of this, unless somehow Celestia, Luna AND Lex all die in this fight.
9652706
It got hurt. Unicorn horns are a weak spot. All you need to do it hit them to disable the current spell, and it was said in the last chapter that magic can't be used until healed.
Magical damage can still cause bruising and such.
9653169
How did it get hurt, though? A scorching ray spell shouldn't have done that.
9653199
Why not? Is a burn not hurting?
9653206
Generic hurt doesn't disable limbs. You need specific limb-disabling spells for that. The closest I can find to what happened here was optional called shot rules AND getting a critical hit, which is enough of a long shot that Lex wouldn't have used it as a tactic.
9653236
Is the horn so simple as to actually be a limb? I would say it's more sensitive than that.
9653275
I would say it's smaller than that and would have a larger penalty to hit. And it can't be more sensitive than, say, a hand, or an eye, which are covered in the rules.
9653339
Even the guy with the worst aim can get lucky and land a crit. Luna's horn got hit, so she can't use it for magic at the moment. Deal with it.
hum it sounds like Lex just got put in his place by foals.
9652621 Despite what Lex thinks, Celestia is no fool. She has a very different philosophy of governance compared to him, and she doesn't seem to be able to match him in sheer intellect, but in terms of sensibly conducting herself in battle she's not an idiot. As Nosey said, she's the veteran of at least a few battles against powerful creatures, and she's able to strategize accordingly. Plus, while she's upset over what happened to Silhouette, she's not distraught over it the way Luna is.
With regards to the Knights' spirit animals, the implication that's been presented so far is that while they respect and admire the Night Mare, they're not really "hers" per se. As an analogy (which means, don't take this as being a literal explanation of the rules involved), think of it as though she used awaken on them, and then they became the children's familiars. They'll certainly be warmly predisposed towards the Night Mare for what she did, but at the end of the day their first priority is the foal that they're bonded with. Remember, the Night Mare basically extracted and enhanced qualities that originally came from each of the foals, rather than creating something for them out of nothing. It's not quite the same as, say, a witch's familiar.
With regards to the barbed wire around Lex's hoof and how it went berserk when he offered to bring Silhouette back, that functions basically like a phylactery of faithfulness. It was letting him know that he was offering to do – namely, use the magic item that the Night Mare gave him to bring back Cloudbank (one of her faithful) to instead show mercy and bring back a follower of another "goddess," one that's a competitor for the same area of divine control – was seriously opposed to her tenets. That said, that hasn't happened, which is why the barbed wire calmed down when Lex's offer fell through. That doesn't mean that the Night Mare won't be upset, of course, but presumably she's less upset than if Lex actually went through with it.
Of course, as you noted, that doesn't mean that Lex's relationship with the Night Mare isn't rather strained right now.
9653082
9653064
With regards to whether or not Severance's actions were detrimental to the Night Mare's interests, it's important to remember that there's a (perceived) division of responsibilities, here. Lex has pledged that he'll give the Night Mare followers, to the point of making her church the state religion in the area he intends to rule over. So now he has to follow through on his promise. No excuses, full stop. That Severance attempted to kill another pony in broad daylight doesn't really factor into that, at least as the Night Mare would likely see it. Does that make it harder for Lex to fulfill his promise to her? Probably, but that's just too bad. His task is more difficult now, but life is difficult, and so is achieving great things. The Night Mare doesn't want excuses, she wants results. Lex didn't include any qualifiers in his pledge to her, and since he made it clear that he wasn't going to deal with the potential threat that Luna represented, Severance tried to take care of it on its own, none of which lets Lex off the metaphorical hook.
So as far as the Night Mare, and Severance, are potentially concerned, this changes nothing. Lex still has to keep his promise to give her followers, or else.
9652706 There are essentially two questions here, which can be broken down as follows: 1) (how) did Lex target Luna's horn specifically, and 2) why did that disable her ability to use magic.
The first question is fairly easy, and you've already hit upon the answer on your own: Lex used the called shot rules to target Luna's horn. In terms of what type of shot that was (i.e. easy, tricky, or challenging) I put Luna's horn as being tricky, the same category as a hand. That might seem a bit awkward, since that's the same category for hitting the head in general, but having it be challenging was a bit too much, since that's the same value as something much smaller like an eye (even if ponies in the show do seem to have very large eyes).
With regard to the second question of why that shut her spellcasting down, however, the answer is different. That's largely because the show has been (surprisingly) consistent about having damage to a unicorn's horn shutting down their spellcasting, or at least heavily interfering with it. Celestia seemed pretty well KO'd when Queen Chrysalis scorched her horn in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2 (season two, episode twenty-six) after all, and Shining Armor couldn't do much when Sombra disabled his horn in The Crystal Empire - Part 1 (season three, episode one). Twilight's magic was all but useless when poison joke made her horn wilt in Bridle Gossip (season one, episode nine), etc. Tempest Shadow was still able to use a little bit of magic with her broken horn, of course, but that was the equivalent of turning a downed power line into a weapon; not how it was meant to be used, even if she was able to use it offensively.
Given that, when I wrote up rules for the pony races, I built that effect in as a racial weakness for unicorns (and, by extension, alicorns). Essentially, any successful called shot against a unicorn's or alicorn's horn is going to shut down their ability to use magic...at least until they buy that weakness off. Now, buying it off isn't very expensive at all, but that still requires an in-character explanation for what's being done and how it's happening, and Celestia and Luna don't meet those requirements, as they haven't been to Everglow and haven't shown us any indication in the show that they've overcome that weakness. Twilight has, but she didn't stay long enough to teach it to them (or even, I suspect, think of doing so).
The same goes for healing magic. We haven't seen Celestia or Luna use any in the show, so there's no cause to say that they have any now. Luna might be using the equivalent of the divine source ability (which isn't exactly what it is, since her build is made with Eclipse: The Codex Persona rather than the standard Pathfinder rules), but that alone won't give her access to healing abilities.
9652836 The alicorns are aware that Severance can move itself; Mihr told them that much. But rather, they've dismissed the possibility that it will act against Lex's orders. After all, Nosey and Sonata told them about Lex's adventures where he used the scythe in various ways, not to mention that they're disinclined to trust Lex now anyway.
9653077 There's a more detailed explanation to be given, but the main issue here is that Lex has vicarious liability for what Severance does even when it acts against his interests. That's not so much because he brought it to Equestria, but because up until now it's acted under his auspices, making it a subordinate of his even if it technically works for the Night Mare and is only being loaned to him. Hence, its actions here are not just an affront to Lex's values, but are also his responsibility. What Xiriel did was also monstrous, but while Lex feels guilty about not detecting and stopping the devil that's less his fault than what Severance has done now. Hence, he offered up the gem because he knew it behooved him (insert "hooves" joke here) to fix what happened. But of course, the princesses refused to listen, and it's hard to blame them at this point.
That said, the only ponies who heard Lex's declaration were the princesses, some of their guards, and the Knights and their animals. Remember, everypony else has fled the battlefield. So at least Lex won't have to deal with this additional bit of information getting around and invariably being distorted in the process...right?
With regard to the Knights, Lex only begrudgingly let them stay because he realized that he had no other choice but to make them stay. He simply can't deal with Severance, the princesses, their guards, and the foals all at the same time, and so something had to give. He might have tried anyway, but as Feathercap smartly noted, at most he could tell their animals to shoo them away...for a single minute, at which point it would wear off and they'd likely return on their own anyway. So there's nothing else Lex can do but try and make the best of it.
There might be a lesson in that...
9653809 Well, more like he realized that he couldn't make them leave, and so he had to accept their presence there. That and I wonder if even Lex was somewhat moved by their statements about him.
9653339
Why would a magical item not be affected negatively by magical damage? Not only that, but is shown, in the show even, that merely hitting a horn stops any magic from the caster.
9655386
For a second, yes. And under the optional called shot rule it would normally cancel their spells for one round if you look at the other effects of called shots (eg, called shot to the eye blinds for one round).
Apparently he added a specific weakness for unicorns just for this though, so whatever.
9655649 As James Fire noted, adding that weakness best reflects what we see in the show. It wasn't so much "just for this" as it was to maintain fidelity to the source material.