Having been granted rulership over the city of Vanhoover, and confessed their feelings for each other, Lex Legis and Sonata Dusk have started a new life together. But the challenges of rulership, and a relationship, are more than they bargained for.
With a sigh, Luna snatched the papers away from her sister, her cobalt blue aura wrapping around the pages, replacing the light golden glow of Celestia’s telekinesis as she drew them to herself. “Enough, Sister. You need to rest.”
But Celestia shook her head, blinking blearily. “No. We don’t have much time before our meeting with Lex, and-”
“Precisely,” interrupted Luna. “Which is why you need to sleep now. It’s already been hours since you lowered the sun, and it won’t be long before you need to raise it again. If you don’t rest now, I’m afraid that you’ll be too tired to achieve the breakthrough you’re looking for when we speak with Lex later.” A look at the conflicted expression on Celestia’s face made it clear that she hadn’t completely convinced her, so Luna kept going. “There’s still a few more hours of nighttime left. Let me review these, and I’ll-”
She ceased speaking as a flurry of sparkles suddenly flew into the room, entering through the window she’d opened earlier to get a look at the moon. Luna had just enough time to realize what she was seeing when the glittering motes of light gathered in front of Celestia and merged, transforming into a rolled piece of paper. Reflexively, the elder alicorn caught the missive and unrolled it. “It’s a letter,” she exclaimed, though Luna had already guessed that much, recognizing Spike’s signature method of sending messages.
But that he was sending one now, in the middle of the night, was a cause for concern. “From Twilight?”
Celestia shook her head, not looking up from the page. “No. Twilight didn’t take him with her when she went back to Everglow.”
Luna’s brow furrowed, not having known that. “Then that letter…?”
“Is from Cadance.” Celestia’s answer came in the form of a sigh, a troubled look on her face as she passed the letter to Luna. “The crystal ponies that she sent here to spread word of Lashtada’s religion just arrived in Canterlot.”
Luna’s frown deepened at that, looking the hastily-written message over. When she was finished, she looked up at Celestia. “This is a bad sign, Sister.”
“We knew that a lot of ponies died here.” But Celestia’s protest was weak, though Luna wasn’t sure if it was because she was tired or because she knew it was flimsy.
“Yes,” admitted Luna. “But we thought that was from the disaster, or from the monsters that followed it, not because they were murdered by other ponies!” Realizing that she’d inadvertently raised her voice for the last few words, Luna took a moment to calm herself before continuing. “Neither Sonata nor Nosey told us anything about the ponies here killing each other. They barely even mentioned that they’d sent sick ponies to Canterlot and Tall Tale for treatment.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in. “You said that you thought that they weren’t being completely honest with us before. Now we know for sure. And if they were holding back important information, it’s because Lex told them to.”
Celestia was silent for a long moment. “We’ll ask him about this when we speak to him later,” she said at last.
“We should do more than ask, Sister,” pressed Luna. “Even if Lex does have the welfare of everypony in mind, he’s been nothing but hostile toward us. I don’t think it would be out of line if we required him to turn over that evil artifact of his, or perhaps give up King Sombra’s horn, as a gesture of good faith on his part.”
She almost added a third suggestion: that he renounce that “Night Mare” goddess of his, but thought better of it at the last moment. Her time with Silhouette and her other worshipers made it clear that anyone who’d go so far as to injure themselves for the sake of their religion – as Lex had with that horrible-looking barbed wire wrapped around his hoof – would only be antagonized by such a demand. Worse, even suggesting such a thing would send the wrong message to her sister, making her think that Luna was motivated by some sort of personal jealousy rather than honest concern. Far better to suggest that he give up something like his horn. She and Celestia had asked Lex for that particular concession a few weeks previous, when they had originally agreed to allow him to administrate Vanhoover’s recovery. He had balked at the prospect then, but Luna thought it was worth reiterating now, since Lex was apparently gathering so much dark power around himself.
But her sister apparently disagreed. “While displaying no such faith ourselves?” Celestia’s tone made it clear her question was rhetorical, even if she hadn’t been shaking her head. “We don’t have the full story about what happened here, and Cadance’s letter says much the same thing about what’s happening in Canterlot. Rushing to judgment won’t help anypony.” She nodded toward the other papers that were still held aloft in Luna’s aura. “Just now, you were saying that I should sleep and that you would review those records of Lex’s time at my school while I did. I think that’s a good idea.” She walked toward the large bed in the corner of the room as she spoke, telekinetically drawing back the covers. “Once it’s time for me to raise the sun, you’ll be able to get a few hours’ rest yourself. That way we’ll both more composed when we meet with Lex later.”
Luna huffed, but recognized that the conversation had reached its end. There was just one other point to settle. “You don’t think we should write back to Cadance in the meantime?”
“Not until we know more,” answered Celestia as she laid down. “She has enough to deal with right now, and worrying her with half-informed reports about what’s happening here will only distract her.”
“Very well. Goodnight, Sister.”
“Goodnight, Luna.”
After Celestia doused the light by the bed, Luna returned to her position beside the window, the moon’s soft light and the glowing aura of her telekinesis illuminating Lex’s old school records. But she didn’t begin reading them immediately, instead turning the events of the last few hours over in her mind. While she knew her sister wasn’t wrong about them having incomplete information, Luna felt certain that whatever new revelations they uncovered wouldn’t allay her fears about the dour unicorn.
After all, Luna had firsthoof experience with this sort of thing.
He really is just like the old me, Luna decided as she reviewed what she knew of Lex. The thought was tinged with regret, remembering how she’d felt in the years leading up to her transformation into Nightmare Moon. The jealousy, the frustration, the bitterness...Lex Legis had all the same qualities about him now that she’d had back then, and Luna felt sure that it was leading him down the same dark road. The only difference was that Lex was poised to become a worse monster than she ever had.
Of course, Luna had suspected that for a little while now. But she hadn’t shared it with Celestia, knowing what her sister would say. She’d tell me that I should reach out to him, sharing what I’ve learned from making the mistakes that he’s making now. Just the thought made Luna sigh, knowing that Celestia would never understand why that wouldn’t work.
Her sister, who had always lived in the light, had no conception of how insidious that kind of negativity was. She couldn’t comprehend how, when you felt unappreciated for a long enough time, you started to think that perhaps it was because you deserved it. Once that happened, it was only a matter of time before self-hatred set in…and at some point after that you eventually became so filled with hate that you couldn’t contain it anymore, unleashing it upon the world. There were no words, no friendship lesson or catchy song, which could break through that mindset.
Changing somepony’s heart, Luna knew, wasn’t that easy.
She herself had been fortunate. Not only had her sister never given up on her, but she’d arranged for Twilight Sparkle and her friends to discover the Elements of Harmony. Composed of the most selfless and caring of emotions, the Elements had uplifted her spirit, letting her see through the veils of anguish and self-deception that she’d surrounded herself with to realize the truth: that she was the cause of her own misery, and that in succumbing to it she had only made it worse for herself. That realization had allowed her to change back into Luna, and fortunately for her Celestia had been there to forgive her, a memory that still brought tears of thankfulness to her eyes even now.
It was that thankfulness that had led Luna to create the Tantabus, her psychic contruct that haunted her dreams with the horrible memories of her time as Nightmare Moon. The nightmares not only served to punish her in a way that Celestia never would, but also doubled as a reminder of what it felt like to go down the path of corruption, keeping her vigilant against it ever happening again. But although he had a Tantabus of his own, Lex Legis didn’t seem to be wary of the mistakes he was making. If anything, he seemed to have been making them for a long time, according to his old school records.
Shuffling the papers, Luna looked them over again. That records from over a thousand years ago were still in such good shape wasn’t surprising. Minor preservation magic was a staple among unicorns with cutie marks in archiving, record-keeping, librarianship, and similar fields. What was more impressive was that her sister had managed to find them after all this time.
Somehow, after their disastrous first meeting – the one where Lex had originally declared himself in rebellion against them – Celestia had recalled an old student from her school that matched Lex’s name and disposition. Luckily, she’d never been able to bring herself to throw away her student files, and she’d dispatched her steward to search through the archives. Of course, Luna knew full well that “the archives” was a mountain of unorganized boxes shoved into the abandoned mines beneath Canterlot, and so it was no surprise that the poor stallion had needed weeks to find the right one.
The records themselves painted a grim picture of the unicorn in question, at least to Luna’s mind. To say that Lex Legis had been a brilliant student was a severe understatement; he had achieved perfect scores on literally every single assignment, project, or exam that he’d been given, a feat that only Twilight Sparkle had replicated. But his teachers’ remarks lacked the praise that such accomplishments should have brought. “Difficult” was a word frequently used to describe him. “Rude,” “disrespectful,” and “argumentative” also made frequent appearances.
The most expressive notes came from View Point, a teacher of magical ethics who’d possessed a penchant for treating her records almost like a personal diary. “Lex Legis disrupted class again today,” read one entry. “While I wasn’t surprised that he already knew ‘The Tale of Sparkler’ – the story of a unicorn filly named Sparkler who conjures a light while walking through the woods alone one evening, only to be chased by monsters – I still can’t believe that he objected so strongly to it! While the other foals were captivated by how Sparkler was finally cornered by the monsters, only to realize that they just wanted her to put her light out so that they could go back to sleep, Lex was scowling angrily. At the end of the story, where the now-friendly monsters escorted Sparkler home through the dark after she doused her light, I started to explain the tale’s moral about considering how our magic might affect other people, but Lex became incensed and kept interrupting. He called the story ‘a paean of consequentialist gibberish’ that ‘purported that moral agency was a stochastic process utterly lacking in normative ethics.’ It was the strangest thing I’ve ever heard a five year-old say! I’m still not sure exactly what he meant, but I told him that if he keeps causing a commotion he’ll have to be punished.”
That was one of the last records; according to the remaining paperwork, Lex had withdrawn from Celestia’s school shortly thereafter. Frowning, Luna shuffled through the pages again, but after a few minutes found herself coming back to that one. It was, she realized, Lex in a nutshell: brilliant but bitter, already having a mindset that not only isolated him from others, but drove him to lash out when he disagreed with them. Even as a child he’d been pulling away from others while simultaneously trying to assert himself over them, and he was still doing it now.
In which case, Luna realized, View Point had been more correct than she’d realized at the time.
If Lex kept causing a commotion, he’d have to be punished.
Luna ponders what to do about Lex, coming to a far less optimistic conclusion than Celestia.
Is this a harbinger of how their meeting will go, or will Celestia's more hopeful outlook carry the day?
Page generated in 0.092 seconds
Total duration
941 users online
54,332 hits today, 2,591,549 yesterday
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
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.®
Would uncovered?
Given Lex's cursory look at Celestia's power, that may be more difficult than they think.
9431593
D'oh! Fixed now.
Quite right...if what he saw was accurate.
Perhaps Luna is correct about the old Lex. But she's ignoring an obvious huge difference between current Lex and Nightmare Moon: Friends. Lex has Sonata, as Luna has to know by now, and apparently Nosey as well. From their point of view maybe even River.
Nightmare Moon never had anyone else. Nightmare Moon was so bitter and isolated she was unable to gain the friendship of anyone, while obviously Lex mastered enough basic social skills to gain at least a few close, devoted friends. That says something very important about his mental state that Luna is completely missing.
Someone give that poor steward a raise! Guess an underground cave system was the only place Celestia could keep records from across a thousand years. And given it's haphazard nature, I bet the archivists gave up cataloging it centuries ago.
Though Twilight would throw a fit if she knew about the archive's existence and it's disorganized state.
Lex would probably just scoff and deride Celestia's sentimentality and insist that it be disposed of to make room for more important things or insist on it to be organized properly...huh, I can see why you wanted Lex to be shipped with Twilight in the beginning.
Putting laughs aside, it was interesting to see Luna's viewpoints on Lex. And her suspicion of Lex, is quite reasonable given what she knows.
Shame, she's planning to act on incomplete and horrifically outdated information.
Still, I laughed when one of her demands is that Lex gives up Sombra's horn. I can imagine Lex agreeing and having Severance chop it off, possibly giving everyone a heart attack at the act of self mutilation before the new one grows in.
It has been said that incomplete information is worse than no information at all, as you can easily fixate on an idea due to the wrong information and be near impossible to change it after, or you can have nothing at all and be mired in your own chaotic mind.
And when that happens, the boogyman dances.
9431606
Hey quick question, Is luna fully versed in modern equish
O Luna do you like your egg scrambled or over easy.
that is the egg about to hit your face.
9431804 You're not wrong, but there are two points to consider:
First is that Lex isn't the sort of pony who makes it clear that he has friendships (and, for that matter, what close relationships he does have can almost be said to be in spite of himself, given his ineptitude at forming and maintaining them). Luna certainly knows that Lex has Sonata, and knows that she's his girlfriend (and possibly Aria as well?) as well as his spokespony, and she's probably also aware that Nosey thinks very highly of him...but compared to how most friendships between ponies look, does Lex's relationship with either of those two seem like friendship? Or does it seem more like he's treating them as reliable servants and outlets for his physical desires? Cozy made that same mistake, after all, and she's a disciple of the goddess of love.
Which brings me to the second point: Nightmare Moon herself had servants. Or at least, she would have, as we saw in The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2 (season five, episode twenty-six). In that timeline, she had Rarity as some sort of castle steward (who even mentioned that the castle had tourists), as well as a cadre of guards who seemed quite eager to enforce her will (remember how angry Rainbow Dash got when Twilight didn't answer Nightmare Moon fast enough?). Luna, however, would know that such relationships aren't friendship, or anything close. So if that's what she thinks Lex has, that likely won't be enough to sway her thinking. Throw in the idea that Lex is cursing ponies, using dark magic, and otherwise filled with negative emotions, and it's not hard to see where she's coming from.
And of course, Luna herself hasn't completely learned her lesson at this point. She knows that self-hatred is ultimately self-destructive, and yet she still has the Tantabus torturing her nightly.
9431818 That steward is indeed dedicated, though I suspect that he "deputized" some of the castle's staff to help him search for the records Celestia wanted. She really should put Twilight on that, though given how she never bothered to mention the Canterlot library's restricted section to her before it became relevant (Equestria Girls: Forgotten Friendship), she either hasn't hit upon that idea or doesn't seem inclined to mention it to Twilight. I suspect that Lex would probably want them archived simply because he likely believes strongly in record-keeping, but I doubt he'd feel the same about his own records. He quite clearly has no use for the past, outside of scholastic study, and would likely cringe at anything involving younger - and therefore less-capable - instances of himself.
Having said that, Luna's information about Lex is indeed complete - much like Cadance's view of Fencer and co., and quite possibly like Lex's view of Celestia's power...almost as though that's a running theme or something - and might very well bring her to woe if she acts on it before she has all the facts. But to her, it looks an awful lot like a clock is ticking down until Lex becomes a monster. That Lex has bonded to King Sombra's horn so thoroughly that it can't simply be cut off of him would likely only make her more certain of that.
9431878 At this point, a lot of people have incomplete pictures about others, and while cooler heads are trying to prevail, conditions and preconceived notions are working against that. Hopefully the appointment between Lex and the alicorns will be a meeting of minds rather than a bearing of grievances, but we'll have to see.
9431902 Well, given that Sounds of Silence (season eight, episode twenty-three) tells us that the language the ponies speak is called "Ponish," then technically no.
9432071 Better than hitting the fan, I suppose.
9432217
not quite at that point thought it is close.
9432216
Please answer the spirit of the question
9433045 All joking aside, I do think that Luna speaks the contemporary, modern version of the pony language just fine. While her reappearance in Luna Eclipsed (season two, episode four) has her using antiquated vocabulary and forms of address (to say nothing of not knowing what "fun" was), she's since shown no indication of doing that, which suggests that she's fully adapted to the current vernacular that Equestria's ponies use. While that might seem odd given how long she's been gone, all suggestions are that the pony language (much like Equestria itself) hasn't evolved very much in the time since her banishment (you'll notice that none of the Mane Six had any trouble talking to the crystal ponies, who had also been gone for a millenium), suggesting that even when she was sealed within the moon, she was a bit out-of-touch with how everypony spoke.
Now, the written language quite clearly evolved at some point; Star-Swirl's journal in Shadow Play - Part 1 (season seven, episode twenty-five) was in Olde Ponish, after all. So were the books that Fluttershy referenced about Mage Meadowbrook (which means they were almost certainly written after she disappeared) in A Health of Information (season seven, episode twenty). But the Pillars were consistently said to have vanished "over a thousand years ago" (emphasis mine), so it's questionable if that was the written form used when Luna was banished. There didn't seem to be any issue of Olde Ponish being used when Twilight and Sunset Shimmer read all those old books (which referenced historical figures such as Chancellor Puddinghead and Clover the Clever, both of whom predated the Pillars, though they might have still been around after the group had formed) in Equestria Girls: Forgotten Friendship.
Of course, that doesn't make much sense. Neither does the fact that Star-Swirl, the other Pillars, and Stygian all speak the contemporary language (which we know they did even back in their own time, thanks to the magical hologram the Mane Six and company saw in Shadow Play - Part 1), despite the fact that Olde Ponish was pronounced differently than modern-day Ponish (since we hear Starlight speak it in that same episode). My guess would be that by the time of the Pillars, both languages were in use, with modern Ponish already having supplanted Olde Ponish as the preferred speaking form, and was rapidly supplanting it as the written language of choice as well, with some authors such as Star-Swirl being traditionalists while others were more populist in their choice of which language to write in (or perhaps those who wrote in Ponish hadn't learned Olde Ponish at all, by that point). That's actually fairly plausible, as we've seen similar things happen in our own world.
But I digress. Given that we've never seen Luna backslide into her old speech patterns, I think that she's fully adopted the current way of speaking.
awws i finally caught up, i think you are an excellent writer ^_^
9436210 Thanks! I'm really glad you're enjoying the story enough to read the entire massive saga!
And don't worry about having caught up; there'll be a new chapter later today and every third day after that until the tale is finally finished!
9436264
I love long stories like this one, I've read some that were 1mill+.