A Dangerous Sparkle
Chapter 131: 131 - My Kingdom
Previous Chapter Next ChapterThe group disgorged into Celestia's throne room. They they had entered one by one in an organized procession, they appeared haphazardly, almost scattered across the room. Spike was the first to speak, "Aw nuts!"
The reason for his exclamation became clear as physical changes in those that crossed became clear, returned to their simpler shapes of older years. Soft Mane was not immune, her pony half looking quite fitting with an average Equestrian pony, though her human half seemed mostly unchanged.
Celestia was perched on her throne, watching them recover from their trip when she spoke, "Twilight, girls, it's a pleasure to see you again."
Twilight shook her odd-feeling body out. She had brought back all her trinkets with her, including her robes. They fit a little oddly on her modified form, but were undamaged by the journey it seemed. She smiled at Celestia, "Thank you for the ride. Was it hard to do?"
Celestia inclined her head faintly, "It was... interesting. I made use of a broken mirror portal and harmonized it with the song of Everglow. Is everypony through? I would like to stop focusing on it."
Glancing at himself, Lex breathed a silent sigh of relief. While he'd grown used to Everglow's cosmetic alterations to his physical self, it was pleasant to be back in his birth form. Or at least, mostly so, he amended quietly, glancing at his red horn for a moment before turning his attention to Princess Celestia.
He felt a thrill of anticipation run through him at the sight of her. It was finally time to make his move! Waiting until Twilight confirmed that they had all arrived and Celestia closed the portal, he stepped forward.
"Princess Celestia, my name is Lex Legis. I request an immediate audience with you and the other princesses regarding the state of Equestria's future."
Celestia raised a brow, looking over Lex, "You already have an audience with me, but I'm afraid Luna is resting for the night to come." She extended a wing towards Twilight, "Princess Twilight is already in attendance. Princess Cadance is in the Crystal Empire. Share your news, mister Legis, and we will hear it." Her eyes looked over Lex's horn curiously, trying to place it.
Rainbow was already flying circles around the room, "Aw yeah, the speed is back!"
Applejack looked herself over a moment, then took a solid stance. With a few odd words and a stomp, a disc of barely visible power flickered into existence in front of her, starting to circle lazily. She looked pleased.
Twilight approached Celestia, taking a place beside her and joining her in addressing Lex, "What's wrong, Lex?"
Lex frowned at the news that Luna would not be in attendance, nor was he happy that the rest of this motley crew would be here, but no matter. This was his opportunity, and he would not let it go to waste. "What's wrong is the state of Equestria. This land, my home, has been stagnating for over a thousand years under the current regime, and drastic action is needed in order to put it back on the path to prosperity."
He stepped forward, locking eyes with Princess Celestia. "For the good of Equestria and its citizens, I want you, and Princess Luna and Princess Twilight, to immediately and irrevocably turn over all political and temporal authority to me."
Applejack snorted and pawed at the ground with a hoof, "Yer kidding, right?"
Twilight looked baffled, "Lex, what are you talking about? Stagnating? I'm about to revolutionize magic as we know it!" She clopped her hooves excitedly, "Princess, Applejack can cast spells, and she's good at it!"
Celestia nodded mutely, "So I see." Her eyes rested squarely on Lex. "I would choose my words carefully, mister Legis. You tread on dangerous ground."
"Such is the ground that any who would achieve great things must tread," Lex retorted, completely undeterred, "and merely introducing new magic does nothing, unto itself, to promote the general welfare. Governance is more than simply inventing something and then letting it unfold of its own accord."
Raising a hoof to point at Princess Celestia, he continued. "The central aspect of governing is leadership, and the nature of leadership is action. You and your sister, by contrast, are marked by inaction. While you perform important duties in moving the heavens, there is little else that can be said of your administration. You pass only the most basic of laws, take part in civil disputes only when they're brought to you directly - and decide them by fiat, no less - and perform rare instances of crisis management. That's all you do."
Lowering his hoof, he gestured widely, as though encompassing all of Equestria. "Equestria and its ponies need more than that. They deserve more than that. They should have a leader who continually takes action on their behalf, who is willing to actively wield political power to regulate social and economic forces in ways that promote the general welfare, rather than hoping that the people solve all of their problems on their own. Government should be their ally, rather than merely a spectator."
Lex was just getting warmed up. Without waiting for their reply, he launched into a speech. It was one he'd practiced in his head many times before, outlining his vision for how Equestria should be run. He spoke of how inherent rights came with inherent responsibilities, and that because such responsibilities were innately burdensome, government had to make sure that the citizens worked to meet them. He spoke of how those responsibilities included burdens of taxation, which he would revolutionize to bring in greater revenue by leveraging small taxes not only on all market transactions, but proportionally to how much revenue a pony made.
He spoke of how those taxes would be used to fund new public works, to build new infrastructure and create jobs to stimulate Equestria's economy. About how that economy would be regulated dynamically to make sure that prices and costs were kept under control for the good of all ponies, greater than any one individual's self-interest. He spoke about how a compulsory census and records of biographical data would allow for greater projects in the future, more targeted to meet the needs of the populace. He also outlined how Celestia and Luna would still be part of his government, raising and lowering the sun and the moon and otherwise being free to hold whatever parties and social functions they otherwise passed the time with.
It was the most animated any of his companions had ever seen him, his voice rising and falling as he went over each point, gesturing dramatically as he explained his vision. Finally, after nearly a half-hour of nonstop talking, Lex brought his speech to a close. "That is my goal, my dream for Equestria's future."
Settling back down, he turned in profile to Celestia, ready to make his final point. Loosening the clothes he'd worn since growing accustomed to Everglow, he showed her his cutie mark: a podium in front of an amphitheater. "My destiny has always been to administrate, and to administrate is to govern, and in order to govern, I must rule." Fixing his clothes, he faced the white alicorn directly once again. "You and your sister perform vital tasks, but moving the sun and the moon is not the same as being meant to lead."
"Let us jointly conduct a peaceful and orderly transition of power," he concluded. "Let me fulfill my destiny and make Equestria a better place for all of its ponies." Finishing, he awaited her response, his heart beating madly despite his calm demeanor.
Celestia shook her head slowly, "I'm afraid you've been misinformed. There is a reason Luna and I are princesses, not queens. We do not rule Equestria, its people do. You are entirely correct that we do not administer our people. The city has a council, the armed forces has a general." She gestured at Twilight, "Ponyville has a mayor, as do most other cities. Each is allowed to govern autonomously, growing to meet the needs of its local population. It is with relief and joy, not shame, that few need to approach me to decide things. The needs of ponies in Manehattan are not the needs of those in Ponyville, nor Dodge City. You would take bits from them all and provide them distant benefits, removed from their local needs or desires."
Twilight looked a little baffled by the explosion of words from the normally reserved Lex. She raised a hoof with uncertainty, "You could become mayor of a city?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes, "So long as he isn't mayor of Ponyville."
The sense of disappointment Lex felt wasn't unexpected, but that didn't lessen its impact any. He hadn't thought it very likely that Celestia would listen to reason and agree to turn over power voluntarily, but he had had to try. "It is you who are misinformed," he pressed. One more attempt had to be made to make her realize her error. He had to know that all avenues for peaceful change had been exhausted before moving on to the next step.
"Equestria is a single nation, not a collection of population centers. What happens in one location affects other locations. Local areas of governance are not capable of seeing the larger picture, nor are they able to muster the concerted effort required to formulate national solutions. In order for this to happen, political authority must be concentrated into a single office, and those who hold that office must be willing to exercise that authority to the fullest."
He closed his eyes for a moment, as though preparing himself for what was about to happen. "I ask you again, for the final time: relinquish your throne to me."
"I do not see much," came a voice from the door. Eyes turned towards it, where a stout earth-pony with the purple armor of Luna stood, "but I know you trespass against the Mother of the Night's domain, and speak words of treason against her sister. Stand down and be judged in peace, or be taken by force." He stomped his hooves on the ground and a wash of silvery moonlight rushed from him, seeming to echo off the forms of the other guards around the throne room as he called down a blessing from Luna.
Celestia raised a hoof, "Speaking is not against the law, but your words carry dire intent behind them. My little ponies will not bow their head to a tyrant." It suddenly clicked for Celestia and her eyes narrowed. She rose to her hooves in a fighting stance, "Sombra! I should have recognized your foul tyranny long before." Celestia's reaction had the other weapons in the room leveling with Lex, ready to act.
Lex shook his head, but it was contempt rather than anger that colored his features as he glanced from the incoming night guard back to Celestia, recognizing the application of divine power. "So now you've even begun to cultivate cults of your own, rather than encouraging enlightened reasoning." He murmured the words, as though speaking more to himself than her, before raising his voice to a normal pitch. "You are mistaken. I am not Sombra, though I've inherited his power, which I intend to use to pursue just ends. But then, you've made it clear that you have no conception of what justice is."
Glancing around at the forces arrayed against him, Lex knew that there was no victory to be had here. In a direct match against Celestia herself, if he cut loose with his strongest magic, he had a chance - a small chance, in all likelihood - of killing her outright. More than likely though, it would go the other way... and that wasn't even taking her guards into account.
"As a patriot who loves Equestria," he announced, his voice suddenly stentorian, "and as a pony of unfailing moral character, I can no longer abide by a government that displays gross moral turpitude towards its citizens and depraved indifference to the issues confronting it. With all offers of peace having been rebuffed, and no alternative solutions made available, I do hereby declare myself to be in rebellion against the rule of the wicked Celestia and her sister Luna."
Shrugging off several of his saddlebags - the ones that contained the scrolls with his thoughts on governance, moral philosophy, and economics - Lex let them fall to the floor as he turned his attention back to Twilight, who was watching the proceedings unfold in horror. "I will reserve judgment towards yourself, Princess Twilight, as you have yet to take an active role in Equestria's government. These," he swept a hoof towards the fallen bags, "are my writings on the future I spoke of. Peruse them at your leisure, and I hope that your love of logic and rational thinking will let you see why I am the one who deserves to inherit the future."
"The rest of you," he looked around at the guards pointing their weapons at him, "mark this day. History will come to record it as the beginning of a bright new future for our homeland. And as for you," he sneered up at Celestia, "this is but a taste of the fate that you've brought down on yourself."
With that final pronouncement, Lex's eyes glowed green as purple contrails sprouted from the corners of them, but this time the effect was not limited to his eyes alone. His entire body became engulfed in roiling shadow, turning into a black morass that writhed and shifted hideously. Even as this happened he was not idle, spitting a word of magic that summoned nearly a dozen translucent ponies - the same astral constructs he had summoned when they fought the gnolls so recently. "Get her!" he roared, directing them towards Princess Celestia.
Even as the mindless things leapt to obey, and the guards yelled and rushed to protect their princess, Lex was already moving, surging back towards the doorway, intent on escape.
The rest of the group surged into action as things seemed to tip over the boiling point. Rainbow went crashing towards Lex as Applejack threw herself in the path of the stampeding constructs, ready to block them as best she could. Spike attempted a mighty lightning blast, though he got flames instead, a pittance with the effort he had put into it.
Twilight's wings went wide, "Lex! Stop it! This is not how civilized ponies behave!" Her horn flashed as she threw a powerful counter-spell, cutting the arcane cords that tied the constructs to the realm and sending many away abruptly. "This isn't how friends behave!"
Celestia watched with an eerie passiveness, remaining where she started on her throne as her guards moved for her, advancing on Lex with spirited charges.
Removed from the excitement, Soft had led her mother away from it all, "Sorry, not exactly how I imagined this turning out."
Grass Patch smiled patiently, "When is it ever? Your friends probably need you, go help them."
As Lex burst free of the throne room, shouts echoing behind him, Rainbow was hot on his heels, flying with the speed she was known for. She swatted his flank, "Stop running, ya jerk! Where do you get off acting like that?"
Lex ignored Twilight's plea, moving with all the speed that his shadowy, incorporeal body was capable of as he retreated. However, his speed was no match for Rainbow Dash's, who kept swiping at him as the roiling mass of shadows that was his body surged down the castle hallway. Her hoof blows were having little effect as they passed harmlessly through the mass of darkness with no apparent effect.
It was enough to draw Lex's attention, however. Dark green eyes opened against his black formlessness, and a tendril of shadows suddenly surged at her, taking on the shape of chains as it separated from the rest of Lex's mass and suddenly wrapped around her barrel. Caught off-guard, Rainbow tried to jerk away, but too late to stop her wings from being bound, sending her tumbling painfully to the ground as Lex continued his withdrawal.
It was good, he mused to himself as he hastened his way through the unfamiliar castle, that he had spent so much time exploring Sombra's powers. While not the strongest of magics, they were among the most variable he'd ever encountered. With no immediate pursuers, he passed through several more rooms before finally finding what he sought: one with a window.
Rushing through the thin glass, he exited the castle walls, making immediately for the cliffside at the edge of the grounds. The more distance he could put between himself and Canterlot for now, the better. Of course, they could try to track him magically, but he had a nasty surprise in store for them if they tried to scry on him...
Back in the throne room, Celestia settled back in her seat, "Scour the castle, though I have doubts you will find him here. Spread word through the city to report his presence, but do not engage." She took a slow breath and looked to Twilight, "Welcome home."
Next Chapter: 132 - The End? Estimated time remaining: 16 MinutesAuthor's Notes:
Will the group ever escape drama? We hope not.
Though without drama, maybe there wouldn't be as many typos, hmm.