Lex saw the first rays of light spilling in through the window in silent announcement of the imminent dawn and knew that he had to get out of bed.
Despite that, he lingered, returning his gaze to where Sonata was lying next to him, having passed out in the aftermath of their lovemaking. Lex was no less tired, but had no desire to fall asleep and let his pervasive nightmares ruin his mood, and so had stayed awake. Doing so had been its own reward, allowing him to simply watch Sonata sleep.
He swept his eyes over her again, remembering how incredible she had felt, the sounds she’d made, the way she’d softly begged him…
Of course, that had been after they’d discovered that Lex’s ability to control Waterlily hadn’t worked on Sonata. Just like when he’d attempted to use it on the local wildlife, the energy had simply failed to take hold when he’d directed it towards his beloved. The realization had made her pout, but Lex had simply taken it as a challenge to show her that there were plenty of other ways he could assert himself over her.
Smiling at the memory, he reluctantly disentangled himself from her, making sure not to wake her up as he slid out of bed. Pulling the blankets around her more to compensate for his leaving, he headed for the bathroom, already planning for the day ahead. For all that he’d accomplished here in Tall Tale, Vanhoover still needed his immediate assistance, so he was going to have to expedite-
His train of thought came to a screeching halt as he opened the bathroom door to see Severance floating in the middle of the room. Lex blinked, having forgotten about the weapon after he’d discarded it previously. He regarded it silently for a moment, wondering if he should greet the thing. It was sapient, after all.
The idea of saying “good morning” to a scythe, however, was more awkward than Lex could stomach, causing him to silently wrap the weapon in his telekinetic grip and move it to the side as he entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him. As he did so, he heard Severance’s voice in his thoughts, complimenting him.
He felt his face heating up at the words. “I did not ‘conquer’ her!” he hissed, keeping his voice down since the bathroom door apparently did a poor job of soundproofing. “What passed between Sonata and me was far more profound! To say nothing of being absolutely none of your business!”
The weapon’s reply made Lex grit his teeth, but he refused to get into an argument over how to characterize what he and Sonata had just done. “Enough! I’m going to use you to replenish my magic, so be silent.” Severance made one final comment, which Lex ignored as he started to gesture and chant softly.
He had no doubts that the Night Mare’s assurance that Severance was powerful enough to serve as a battery for his magic was legitimate, but Lex was still eager to put her claim to the test. The thought of being able to make use of his strongest magic, the magic that he had created from scratch, without restriction was a heady one. Of course, it would take nearly an entire day to completely replenish his spells, but he could restore just one or two now as a trial run.
But as the first syllable left his lips, Lex stopped, eyes widening in confusion.
His mental catalogue of spells that he’d learned had some additions. Ones that he didn’t remember acquiring.
Unlike the “wizards” that he’d met on Everglow, Lex needed no external record of the various spells that he could prepare. Rather, when he had the opportunity to replenish them, he simply picked the ones he wanted to be available to him and filled their thought-form with sufficient energy, waiting to be expended via casting. As a side effect of structuring his thoughts that way, he never forgot any spell that he had taken the time to learn, regardless of how long ago he’d learned it or last used it.
Except now he was cognizant of several new additions, almost a dozen in total, to his roster. Each one was more powerful, and/or more complex, than the one before it, he intuitively could tell. In fact, the last few were still beyond his ability to cast at all, at least without taking extreme measures.
Frowning, Lex continued to stare off into space as he tried to figure out where these new spells had come from. The most obvious explanation was that they were yet another gift from the Night Mare, but that struck him as unlikely. She’d already been more generous than he’d dared to hope for when he’d summoned her, and she’d made sure to call out each of her gifts to him so that he’d be aware of her munificence. For her to do even more for him didn’t seem like her.
But what other explanation could there be? Unless he’d begun to spontaneously manifest magical abilities like an Everglow “sorcerer,” which was a far less plausible theory, there was simply no other explanation. And the Night Mare had returned his former magic items to him without being asked, so perhaps…perhaps it wasn’t so unusual after all.
Realizing that there was no more usefulness in guessing, Lex turned his attention to the new spells themselves. He focused on the least powerful of them, one so incredibly minor that he knew immediately that anypony with any spellcasting ability whatsoever would have been able to master it. And its effect…
It was a contraceptive spell.
Lex froze at the realization, nonplussed first by the sudden reminder that what he and Sonata had just shared might have unforeseen consequences, and then by the sense that mysteriously acquiring a spell to deal with exactly that problem was a little too convenient. Trying to fight the cold chill that had settled over him, he examined the spell in more detail.
It was fairly straightforward. It could be cast on a single individual to make them temporarily infertile for several days, with the exact duration depending on the puissance of the spellcaster. It could also be cancelled prior to that if the caster so desired.
Lex glanced in the direction where he knew Sonata was sleeping, silently vowing that from now on he’d use this spell on himself before they did that again. As for now…surely she wouldn’t have any objection to his using this spell on her, would she? She'd certainly understand the need for it, since she might...might become...
Knowing that this was a line of thought that would utterly consume his attention if he didn’t deal with it, Lex grit his teeth and resumed his chanting, pulling in the necessary energy to prepare the spell. Idly, he noted that at least now he’d confirmed that Severance was an adequate battery for his magic.
Once he’d gathered the requisite energy, Lex marched out of the bathroom, leaving Severance hovering in place as he went over to where his beloved was still slumbering. Gently, he reached out and placed a hoof on her, nudging her just slightly. “Sonata?”
There was no response. So he tried again, calling her name and shaking her just a little. He had to repeat the process several times before he got a response, her eyes cracking open blearily as she made an inquisitive grunt.
“Sonata, is it alright if I use contraceptive magic on you?” he asked her quietly. “I want to avoid any, er, unexpected ramifications from what we did.”
“Mmph…s’fine,” she mumbled, closing her eyes and turning over.
“Are you sure?”
“…trus’ you…” she murmured. That seemed to be the sum total of her response, as her breathing settled back into a slow and steady rhythm a moment later.
For a long moment, Lex stood there, unsure of what to do. The degree to which she had been conscious was dubious at best, to say nothing of his lack of certainty as to how much she’d have understood what he was asking even if she had been completely awake. But on the other hoof, she’d not only given him permission, but had stated that she trusted him. That was, in all likelihood, her way of issuing blanket permission for him to do whatever he thought was best, and there was no doubt in his mind that this was the optimal course of action.
He bit his lip for a moment as he stood there, considering. The reasoning wasn’t as sound as he would have liked, but it was still sufficient to pass scrutiny when held against his moral code. Nodding to himself, he quickly incanted the words of the spell and made the requisite gestures, before gently touching a hoof to her, completing the act.
Letting out a relieved sigh, Lex returned to the bathroom, eager to put the last few minutes behind him.
Instead, he turned his attention back to the new spells in his mind. There were still nine more after the contraceptive spell, and he focused on the next-simplest one. It was a spell that could be cast on multiple individuals at once, causing their tactile senses to experience short-term hypersensitivity, but only with regard to pleasure…
Lex could feel the blood rushing to his face as the theme of these new spells became apparent. Although he disapproved of blatant indulgences, he nevertheless couldn't help but imagine what last night would have been like if he'd had this spell prepared then. The thought was tantalizing, particularly since there was no reason he couldn't use it in the future. And there were still quite a few more of these to look over!
It was with a mixture of nervousness and excitement that Lex mentally reviewed a third spell, only to let out a scandalized yelp as he comprehended its effects. The first two had been somewhat embarrassing, but this was lurid! This was…who would ever…why would anypony want to…?!
For all his mortification, Lex could feel that the blood in his face was now flowing elsewhere, to his utter chagrin. Without a word, he turned and leapt into the nearby bathtub, yanking the shower curtain closed even as he turned on the cold water full-blast. As the frigid water poured over him, Lex took several deep breaths to try and calm himself down. But just remembering that spell – and that there were seven more to review, all of them of greater…efficacy – made that rather difficult to do.
Obviously, that would have to be put off for another time. Right now was a time to work hard for everypony in Tall Tale and Vanhoover, not get bogged down in such tawdry activities. However distracting these new spells might be, he had a duty to put them aside and focus on what really mattered. Closing his eyes, Lex repeated that to himself, recalling that he had been thinking about that when he’d run into Severance and gotten sidetracked. No more. From now on, he was going to stop fooling around and maintain his focus.
Even so, it was quite a few minutes before he turned the water off and exited the shower.
Yawning, Nosey rubbed her eyes as she stepped out of her room. Or rather, whatshisname’s room. She could have looked him up in her notes, but it didn’t really matter. What mattered was finding a way to get some breakfast when she didn’t have a bit to her name. Luckily, being an ace reporter had taught her plenty of tricks, including the old one about interviewing someone who was in the middle of a meal so that you could pick at their food.
Now she just had to find someone to interview. The most obvious choice would be the guy whose room she’d taken, but given that he’d never reappeared after that angry mare had dragged him to the kitchen, he probably wasn’t in the best mood. In fact, she realized, it was probably better that she slip out the back, just to be sure that the grouchy pegasus didn’t get any ideas about charging her for her impromptu stay.
Exiting the building without seeing anypony else, Nosey smiled at her continuing good fortune. Now if only she could figure out whose breakfast she could crash…
After a moment’s thought, Nosey turned and started walking towards city hall. Today was going to be Lex’s first full day as mayor. As such, it was her civic duty to show him the special relationship that the government had with the press.