Everypony had gathered in Lockwood's apartment for the last time. It was late in the evening, several hours after dinner time in fact, but the late hour was of no importance to anypony present.
Twilight and her friends had collected together all of the stuff that they'd be bringing along with them—clothes for the trip through the city, clothes they wanted to keep, assorted knick-knacks, etcetera—and were just making themselves ready for the big moment. It was so close that Twilight could almost smell the dried ink on the pages of every book in her library.
"So, this is it, huh?" Flathoof said once everypony had gathered together and finished packing up their things. "The big day, here at last. I can't imagine that any of you aren't excited as all get-out right now."
Though he had a smile on his face, Twilight could tell that it was a mixed emotion. He wasn't the only one feeling happy that she and her friends were finally going home, but he also wasn't the only one feeling just a little bit sad that they were as well. Though she and Flathoof hadn't known each other as well as he did Applejack or even Fluttershy, she still remembered the effort he'd gone through on the very first day they'd met. If not for his goodwill—his sense of duty to protect those in need—she and her friends would've never gotten this far.
"We've been lookin' forward to this for a long time," Applejack said, adjusting her stetson over her eyes a bit. "We're all excited. I can't wait to get back home and hug mah brother 'n' sister 'n' granny. To get a chance to buck a real tree again and eat a big ol' juicy apple. To smell all of the fresh air out by the orchard…"
She then just walked up and threw her hooves around him in a big hug. "But I'm gonna miss ya, ya big lug. You 'n' all your family, who've been as much a family to me over these past few weeks as my own."
He returned the hug earnestly. "They're all gonna miss you too, AJ. I'm gonna miss you. You really have been like a member of the family, and it always hurts to see your family have to go, no matter the reason."
After Applejack broke the hug and stepped back, Fluttershy approached Flathoof as well, not quite anxious as much as she was just slightly nervous. "Thank you for everything, Flathoof," she said with a small smile.
"Of course, Fluttershy," he replied with a grin. "It was my pleasure."
"Take care of Lockwood, okay? I know you will whether I ask or not, but… I just wanted to say it anyway."
"I will."
"And… take care of Gray, too," she added with a small bit of red in her cheeks. "Please? Take care of her for me?"
Flathoof arched an eyebrow slightly. "I… will? I don't think she's the sort of mare that needs anypony to take care of her. Seems like she's perfectly capable on her own."
Fluttershy hid her face behind her mane, a little redder still, but just nodded and said nothing more.
The door to the apartment opened, and Lockwood entered. He was alone.
"Nothing?" Twilight asked, disappointed.
He shook his head, a confused frown on his face. "No, nothing. They're not in their apartment, or at least they're not answering the door or the phone." He gave an apologetic look to the gathered mares. "Apologies, everypony. I tried my best, even tried calling around to a few friends to see if they knew anything. No dice."
"It's alright," Twilight sighed. "I wasn't able to get in contact with Dawn, either. She didn't even show up at the library today, at least according to Archimedes."
"Yeah, same thing with Havoc," Rainbow added, scratching her head. "There was supposed to be a practice session today to make sure the new seeker gets folded into the team dynamic and everything, but Rainslick said that Havoc left early and didn't even say where she was going. Must be some kind of emergency?"
Pinkie drooped, plopping down onto her rear. "Awww… so we're not gonna get to say goodbye to all of our other friends?" she asked, a large frown spreading across her face.
"It seems that way, darling," Rarity said, patting Pinkie's shoulder and seeming just as disappointed. "I did so want to see my darling Insipid one last time, if only to make certain that she understood why I was leaving. The poor dear doesn't really understand why we're going 'home'; this is home, as far as she's concerned. I wish I could tell her the truth…"
"Not to sound pessimistic, but it could be a family emergency," Twilight suggested. "They're all sisters, so… maybe something happened? They don't talk often about their father, but from everything I've heard they all love him dearly." She shook her head. "I hope everything's alright…"
"I think we have enough of a melancholy vibe going around the room at the moment," Lockwood said with a slight smile. "I'm sure everything will be fine. But you girls, you should be in higher spirits. You're going home! This should be a red-letter day for all of you. The entire past few weeks have been leading up to this very moment."
"You're right, darling," Rarity said, stepping towards him. "While it might be sad to think of our friends being in trouble, I know they wouldn't want us to bring ourselves down on such a joyous occasion. If they didn't tell anypony about what's happening, they clearly don't want anypony involved, and we should respect that and focus on our own circumstances."
"That's right," Lockwood agreed. "And don't any of you worry, I'll be sure to keep in touch with them and make sure that they're all okay. If there's anything I can do to help them out, then you know I'll take care of it, I promise."
"I wouldn't expect anything less of such a wonderful gentlecolt, darling." Rarity leaned forward and kissed Lockwood on the cheek; Twilight wasn't quite sure but it seemed a little friendlier than one of her normal cheek pecks. "You're been a good friend to me, Lockwood. To all of my friends. I will miss you dearly, and I want you to know that I cherish the time that I've gotten to know you."
Lockwood gave her a small, sad smile, and took her hoof in his. "I hope nothing but the best for you and your friends when you return home, Rarity. It certainly has been a pleasure knowing you. Knowing all of you," he added, glancing at the others.
Fluttershy approached Lockwood and wrapped her hooves around him in a hug very suddenly.
"Oh! Especially you, my number one assistant," Lockwood chuckled, returning the hug and patting her back.
"Please, Lockwood, take care of yourself," she said softly. "Stay safe, okay? Stay safe for me? I don't want to go home and worry about if anything is going to happen to you. I will anyway of course, but please… just let me know that you'll be careful? I just need to hear it."
"I will, Fluttershy, I promise. I've got a feeling that my days of brazenly putting myself in harm's way are drawing to a close," he said with a laugh.
Winter cleared her throat from the doorway, having just arrived. "Sorry to interrupt, everypony, but we have to get goin'. We're expected to be at Pandora Tower at midnight sharp, and we'll just make it if we leave within the next couple of minutes."
Twilight, who found it a little difficult to look at Winter for some reason, simply gave her a little nod. She wasn't sure if it was because she was nervous, angry, or sad, really; this was an entirely new emotion to her, a new experience that she didn't understand and had never read about before or even taken an interest in. There weren't any essays or books or articles on what to do if your best friend kissed you and you liked it and then she barely talked to you for two days.
She'd checked.
"Well, everypony, this is it," Twilight said, turning to her friends with a smile. "Let's go home."
*****
The little group arrived in the vicinity of Pandora Tower at exactly two minutes before midnight. Winter led them over to an area outside the tower's perimeter, in a spot that was otherwise fairly inconspicuous but that she seemed to think was important, at least from what Twilight could tell. She had everypony gather around her in the spot that she'd designated, and then had them all just stand there and… wait.
Not one of them said a word, not until the stroke of midnight when without warning, the ground around them glowed bright blue, forming a circle made up of strange markings.
"Whoa!" Rainbow blurted. "What the hay?"
"What's goin' on?" Applejack asked, looking to Twilight and Winter for an answer.
"This is an advanced teleportation matrix," Twilight breathed as she glanced at the symbols and markings.
"Correct," Winter said with a nod. "Hold on, everypony, and maybe clench up a bit. If you've never been teleported before, this sometimes gets—"
The entire group vanished with a bright flash.
*****
Silvertongue stood on a raised section of the roof of Pandora Tower, high above the city, so far above that he could see the smog cover that coated the air like a blanket. The smog was drastically thinner around the Inner Districts bordering the Tower's perimeter, and entirely absent around the Tower itself. A pillar of fiery orange light cascaded up into the sky through a cavity in the rooftop, pulsing from its source within the Beacon.
At his side, standing at dutiful attention, were his six daughters, who each remained silent and stood tall and proud. They were dressed not in their usual clothing but in simple robes of black silk with red trim, and nothing more; the robes had been tailored to loosely fit their forms so that even the larger Gray Skies did not strain against tight clothing. He wanted them all to be comfortable for what was to come.
His black-and-gold eye pulsed at the sudden influx of magic sparkling behind him; he'd gotten used to it reacting to things at this point. His mouth curled in a grin, and he watched as the seven mares he was so eagerly expecting warped into existence before him.
"—nasty," uttered Winter, clearly having been caught mid-sentence.
He watched as a small number of the Element Bearers heaved slightly and staggered about as though dizzy or ill; the effects of sudden teleportation, especially if one wasn't used to the sensation, could induce nausea, disorientation, and in fringe cases even temporary loss of certain sensations such as hearing or smell.
"Ugh, why does everything taste blue?" blurted Rainbow as she tried to scrape the alien sensation off of her tongue.
"I think I'm going to be ill," complained Rarity, clutching her stomach as if ready to vomit at any moment.
It took a moment—only a few seconds, really—for the group to reorient themselves and realize not only where they were, but that they were not alone. He did not pity them for the utter confusion that rackled their features, for not only were they still dizzy or nauseous from the teleportation, but they were now on the roof of Pandora Tower, and they were beholden not only to the sight of himself, but of his daughters—their friends—in what likely seemed to be outlandish attire compared to what they were used to.
His daughters remained at attention, though it was clear some of them more than others wanted to say something reassuring to their friends. Insipid was barely able to stop glancing in Rarity's direction, for example, and Velvet and Havoc were each nervously tapping their hooves as if they were resisting the urge to wave at Pinkie and Rainbow, respectively; Havoc in particular was sweating and biting her lip.
As expected, only Gray and Dawn maintained their composure; Curaçao did as well, but that was to be expected since she had no deeper connection with the others.
"Dawn?" muttered Twilight, taking a step forward; she was least affected by the teleportation sickness, it seemed, likely because she was skilled in teleportation herself. "What is this? What's going on? Why are you here?" She turned to Winter, narrowing her eyes. "You didn't say anything about Dawn being here."
"I didn't know she was gonna be here, either," said Winter, turning her gaze to Silvertongue. "Ya failed to mention that part."
"Because at the time, it was irrelevant to the situation at hoof," he replied. "It is relevant now, of course, but what would prematurely informing you of their presence here have accomplished, I wonder?"
"Probably would've saved a bit of confusion," Winter grunted. She turned to the others and gestured towards him. "Ladies, introducin' Lord Silvertongue, the Warden of Nihila in the flesh. He's agreed to get us in touch with Nihila so that I can finally send ya back home to your friends and families, eh?"
"So this is the guy you and Twi have been trying to get in touch with all this time?" Rainbow asked, eyeing him up and down.
"Indeed I am," Silvertongue said with a slight bow. "A pleasure to meet your acquaintances. Though our meeting is to be a rather short one, I think we can all agree that there is something to look forward to in the course of tonight's events."
"Dawn, what's going on?" Twilight asked again, stepping towards her friend—her counterpart—with genuine concern. "Do you know him?"
Dawn looked to her father for approval; he nodded. So, she turned to Twilight, her smile slight but genuine. "Our father has tasked us with an important undertaking, Twilight: we are to assist with tonight's endeavors. I was admittedly oblivious to the fact that you and your companions originated from an alien world, but Father has informed me that we are to transport you home."
Twilight stepped back, utterly confused. "Wait… this is your father? Your father is the Warden of Nihila?"
Dawn nodded, slightly embarrassed, or perhaps disappointed that she hadn't been told. "I was only apprised of that fact in more recent hours. Had I been aware of this at an earlier point in time, I would have presented you with such information, I promise."
"You're sayin' ya really didn't know?" Winter scoffed. "You'll forgive me if I find that hard to believe, Dawn."
"It is not a fabrication, I assure you," Dawn said, a genuine expression of worry on her face, clearly afraid that her friends doubted her. "I swear, had I known, I would not have hesitated to inform you or Twilight. I was just as bewildered as you when I learned of it. I did not know."
"What about the rest of you?" Rainbow asked, narrowing her eyes at Havoc. "Did you know?"
Havoc quickly shook her head. "No! I swear, dude, I had no idea! I don't even know what the hell's going on! Pops just told us all to be here, explained a couple things like that my best friend is an alien, apparently, and said that we're supposed to help you guys get back to your planet or whatever! I don't know what a 'Warden' is, or what a 'Nihila' is, or anything!"
"None of us did," Gray said simply, looking towards Fluttershy, who was just giving her a soft look as though unsure if she should feel hurt or not.
"My only knowledge on the subject of Nihila is what we discovered in the midst of our research," Dawn explained.
"So then you at least know that your father, as her Warden, is a servant of a goddess of evil, right?" Twilight asked, eyes narrowed. "I'm beginning to think that there's more to this situation that you're telling us. Tell me the truth, Dawn."
Dawn raised an eyebrow. "I do not know what you—"
"You didn't just walk into the library that morning by happenstance, did you?" Twilight asked, stepping toward Dawn, a hard look in her eyes. "You were sent there by your father, I take it? To do what? To lure me and my friends here into some kind of trap? To pretend to be my friend?"
"No!" Dawn blurted, looking hurt. "I mean… yes, I was assigned to interact with you by my father. That much is a legitimate fact. But there was no malevolent intent! I swear to you, it was never my intention to bring harm to you or your companions. I swear—"
"How am I supposed to believe that?" Twilight asked, shaking her head. "You lied to me, all this time. I thought we were friends—"
"We are friends, Twilight—"
"You lied to me!" Twilight turned to look at Dawn's sisters, leveling her glare at them now. "You all lied to all of us!"
"Hey," Havoc huffed, "just because our dad sent us to find you, doesn't mean that—"
"Oh, shut up, Havoc," Rainbow grunted. "Twi's right, you straight up lied to me. I thought we were friends, but now you're telling me that the only reason we met at all was because you were sent to find me? So what, that I would trust you enough to fall into this little trap? Well, way to go, it worked. Are you happy?"
"Do I look happy to you?!" Havoc snapped, gesturing at her herself. "I'd be just fine if I didn't have to listen to you accuse me of lying or not being your friend, because I am your friend."
"I can't believe I told you all those things about me!" Rainbow sputtered. "I told you things I haven't told anypony else for years, things I haven't even talked to Pinkie about. I trusted you."
"I swear, Dash, I didn't know!"
Silvertongue cleared his throat. "If everypony here wants to have somepony to throw the blame at for all of these misunderstandings, then direct your blame towards me," he said, giving everypony present a hard look. He turned to Twilight and Rainbow. "Yes, my daughters did indeed come to you and your friends under false pretenses. But that is my doing, not theirs. They were doing only what I asked of them."
"'Just following orders' is hardly a good excuse—" Twilight started.
"Tell me, Miss Sparkle, were you or any of your companions harmed in the process of this grand deception? Did my daughters ever attack you, or direct you into a situation that caused you pain or misery? Did they mock you, insult you, belittle you? Did they give you any reason to think that they were anything but trustworthy?"
"Well, no, but—"
"In fact, I have been led to believe that it is by my daughters' very presence in your lives that one amongst you is still healthy in body and mind," he continued, looking briefly towards Pinkie. "Were my daughters at fault for that situation? No, they were not. If anything they attempted to rectify it."
"Well, yes, but—"
"I gave them one task, Miss Sparkle, and one task only: to find you and your friends, to gain your trust and confidence, and to provide you with aid in any way that they could during your brief time here in my world until you could be returned home. They were unaware of your alien nature, only that you needed help, and I believe they have done just that."
"Then they still befriended us on false pretenses—"
"And yet the friendships are real," he said, his tone hard. "My daughters have been quite forthcoming with how they all feel about each of you, and despite the admittedly false pretenses that led to your initial contacts, I did not provide them any additional guidance, I did not instruct them to manipulate or deceive you further, and I did not advise them to do anything but to be of help."
He turned to Rainbow, specifically. "Whatever it is that you and my daughter spoke of in private, I assure you, she never revealed it to anypony, least of all myself. Your outburst earlier is the first I'm hearing of anything of the sort."
Rainbow snorted. "And I'm supposed to believe that just because you said it?"
"It's true, dammit!" Havoc shouted, practically on the verge of tears. "I never told anypony, I swear! I would never do that to you, Dash!"
"We are your friends, Twilight," Dawn said with a sad smile, putting her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "Please… believe me. Everything between us, all of us, was genuine."
Twilight paused to glance at Dawn's hoof, then looked to her friends. "Girls… what do you think?"
Pinkie spoke first. "I always thought it was kind of convenient that Velvet and I met the way we did, but I never really questioned it, y'know? And now that I know why that happened… I'm not mad." She looked to Velvet with a smile. "Velvet… she's been a good friend to me, Twilight. She saved my life! If she was out to do something bad to me, why would she do something like that?"
Rainbow crossed her hooves. "I'm still kind of pissed that Havoc lied to me," she said, looking straight at Havoc. "But you know what? Pinkie's right: if Havoc was going to try and do something bad to me, she could've done it when we were outside the city. None of you would've known what happened or who did it."
"I trust Gray," Fluttershy said, coming out from behind her mane and looking right at the larger pegasus. "I know that she'd never hurt me, or any of my friends."
Applejack shrugged when Twilight looked in her direction. "Y'know, I can't really say much on the whole thing. Yeah, alright, they were dishonest goin' about first meetin' y'all, but I ain't seen 'em be anythin' but decent ponies. I mean, yeah, part of me says that this could all still be a trap, but… I figure we should give 'em the benefit of the doubt for now, right?"
"I'll be honest, this doesn't really bother me at all," Rarity admitted with a little shrug. "Think of it, Twilight: didn't Princess Celestia do something just like this to you? Sending you to Ponyville with the express instructions to meet with all of us in turn so that we could all become friends? Rather like an arranged marriage, in a sense."
Twilight paused, then gave a slow nod. "You're right, Rarity… Princess Celestia did pretty much the same thing with me." She shook her head. "But… but that was because she had a secret motivation that I didn't know about at the time. What if that's the same thing happening here?" She turned to Silvertongue and narrowed her eyes. "Why did you send your daughters to befriend us?"
Winter crossed her hooves over her chest. "I'd like to know that as well. I thought that ya didn't know anythin' about the situation until I told ya what was goin' on."
Silvertongue gave Winter a brief grin. "As the Warden of Nihila, it is my duty to be informed of the goings on within this grand city, to seek out discrepancies and curiosities and investigate them thoroughly. Naturally, the sudden arrival of six mares claiming to be from a place that doesn't exist was quite the curiosity.
"I investigated them. And, over the course of this investigation, I came to the only logical conclusion: these mares weren't from this world at all, but from another." He gestured towards Winter briefly. "I did tell you that I had heard the term 'Chronomancer' before, and that was no lie. It certainly helped to piece together the puzzle, even if my knowledge of your order is rather limited."
"So, wait… you knew all along that these six were from another world, and that they needed to get home?" Winter asked, scratching her head. "But… if that's the case, why didn't ya contact me sooner? We could've gotten them home weeks ago!"
"Would you have trusted me if I came to you then?" he asked.
"I don't trust you now," she retorted.
"Touché," he chuckled. "You will know the reason soon enough, I assure you. For now, I think it might be best if we go through with what we all came here to do."
"Just so that we're all on the same page, that would be contacting Nihila so that I can send these girls home?"
"Exactly," Silvertongue said with a nod. "I fully intend to fulfill my promise to you, Miss Glow, for helping you is entirely within my best interests, as you were keen to point out in our earlier discussion."
"Yeah, and you also said that Nihila was gonna want somethin' in return for goin' through with it. You still haven't told me what that is."
"You will know shortly," he said with a nod. "The first order of business, of course, is contacting her, and for that, I require some assistance. She wishes to speak with all of you directly, and she cannot do that through my connection with her alone." He gestured towards the wide space between himself and the Beacon's light. "So, shall we proceed?"
Winter looked to Twilight, who looked to her friends, who all nodded in agreement. "What do we have to do?" she asked.
"The process is complicated, and will best be accomplished if everypony works together," he explained as he stepped over to the sealed container he had placed nearby, upon which was a small datapad that he had brought along. "Dawn, Miss Sparkle, and Velvet, first I have a task for you."
The trio shared a brief look between themselves, then stepped forward, upon which Silvertongue passed the datapad over to Dawn. She activated it, displaying an image of a circle decorated with bizarre markings that looked similar to the ones etched across his face and neck. Dawn and Twilight both eyed the image with curious glances, sharing brief looks at one another; Velvet was at a loss.
"A runic circle," he explained so that they wouldn't need to ask for clarification. "One of the many wondrous fields of study that the gryphons perfected, though it has its basis primarily in zebra culture, usually for religious purposes. The patterns of runes in this circle are very, very precise, and I only trust unicorns with a certain practiced skill to create it."
"If it's so delicate, why aren't you doing it yourself?" Twilight asked.
"A fair question, but I'm afraid I need to save what magic I have for the final phase of this task, otherwise I would at the very least assist. I believe I can trust the two of you with this, yes?"
"I assure you, Father, your confidence is not misplaced," Dawn said with a grin. "Twilight and I am up to the task."
"This runic circle requires more than just magic, though," Twilight noted. "It would require a sort of paint, and… oh." She paled. "It specifically requires… b-blood to operate. A lot of blood. I don't know if I'm comfortable with—"
"Fear not, Miss Sparkle, I assure you that there will be no need to obtain blood from any sort of victim." He gestured to Velvet with a grin. "My daughter Velvet will be of assistance to you in that regard."
Velvet's eyes widened and she pointed at herself. "Me? B-but, I thought—"
"The task we are undertaking tonight, my dear, countermands my previous wishes that you hide your abilities."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Abilities?"
Silvertongue nodded at Velvet and passed her a dagger from a sleeve on his armor. She hesitantly nodded back, giving a nervous look to Twilight, then pressed the dagger against her chest.
"No, wait!" Twilight blurted.
Velvet drew the blade across her skin, spilling just a little bit of blood before passing the dagger back to her father. Then, using her special powers, she willed the blood to flow out of herself and form a tendril of sorts in front of her face, which twitched and waved at her command.
Twilight's jaw dropped. "You… but… h-how—"
"All of my daughters possess certain magical traits that are unique to them," Silvertongue explained. "I will not delve further into the hows and whys, but suffice to say that some are crucial for performing this ritual tonight. Do you recognize the magic Velvet possesses, Miss Sparkle?"
She nodded slowly. "Hemomancy. Blood magic. B-but… she's not a unicorn—"
"And yet she possesses the ability all the same. Again, I will not delve into it any further. Just know that it is with these gifts that my daughters are helping you return home, Miss Sparkle. And fear not, Velvet is in no pain," he added, turning to his daughter. "Are you, my dear?"
She shook her head. "No, Daddy."
"Good. So, Velvet, you are to provide the 'paint' for Dawn and Twilight's 'brushes', as it were. As said, these runic markings need to be drawn in blood, and your abilities provide an inexhaustible, nonviolent source that will not require the deaths of any innocent lives, plus, your control over your blood should allow you to correct mistakes easily."
"You got it, Daddy!" She turned to Dawn and Twilight. "C'mon, let's paint the town red. Ha ha!"
Twilight just shook her head. "This… is very uncomfortable…"
The trio of them stepped over to where Silvertongue directed them and immediately set to work on their assigned task. Silvertongue then turned towards his daughters again. "Havoc, I have a task for you as well. Come here."
Havoc trotted over, a smile on her face as she ignited one of her hooves. "Sure thing, Pops. What do you need me to do?"
Rainbow's eyes widened. "Oh, snap! You've got powers too, dude?"
Havoc gave Rainbow a little grin. "Hell yeah I do!" She demonstrated by shooting a little fireball up into the air, where it exploded with a tiny pop. "Neat, huh?"
"'Neat'? Dude, you can shoot fire out of your hooves! That's awesome!"
"I mean, it's not as awesome as flying at supersonic speeds," Havoc said with a little shrug.
"I mean, yeah, obviously, but it's almost as awesome," Rainbow added with a smirk.
Silvertongue cleared his throat to get Havoc's attention back to him.
"Oh. Right. Sorry, Pops," she said with a nervous chuckle. "So, what've got for me?"
"Once Dawn, Twilight, and Velvet have finished their work on the runic circle, I require it to be properly encircled with flames of a very specific intensity," he explained. "Four thousand degrees Fahrenheit, to be precise. You will need to maintain the flames until the ritual has been completed, which will take several minutes. Can you do that?"
"Hell yeah I can!" Havocwing boasted. "That's no problem for a pro like me! You just watch, I'll make you proud!"
He turned to Rarity next. "Miss Rarity, I have a task for you as well."
Rarity pointed at herself. "For me?"
"Indeed."
He took another datapad off of the container and passed it over to her, turning it on so that it displayed a three-dimensional image of a pony covered in the same markings Silvertongue himself was. He then opened the container itself and gestured at the cans of paint within, which he lifted out and then opened with his magic to avoid spillage.
"This paint has been enchanted for a very specific purpose, that being to protect individuals that are involved in a later step in this ritual's process. Yourself and your friends will be unaffected and do not require any application as such, but myself and my daughters all do." He gestured at the paint markings on his face. "As you can see, I have already applied it to myself."
"Ah, yes, so you have," she said as she looked over the image. Her cheeks reddened slightly. "Hmm, this paint seems to require application to several areas across the body, it would seem. Are your daughters comfortable with this?"
"I do not think they would be with me being the one applying it, no," he said, shaking his head. "Which is why I am asking you. Not only are you more familiar with the female form in your capacity as a dressmaker, but you are also a mare yourself, and my daughters would feel more comfortable around you." With a look to Insipid, he added, "Or at the very least, Insipid will be, and she will vouch for your decorum."
She arched an eyebrow. "And I assume that there is another reason you're tasking me with this in particular?"
"The paint needs to be applied precisely, with the utmost accuracy. Even the slightest deviation from the instructions could potentially have grave consequences for my daughters, and I have full confidence that a mare of your talents will ensure that that doesn't come to pass. Can you do it?"
Rarity eyed the paint for a moment, then glanced at the image she'd been provided, then gave a confident nod. "Yes, I know I can do it. After two weeks of keeping myself in practice with designing and producing dresses for your daughter to model, I'm absolutely certain of it."
He nodded. "Good. Thank you, Miss Rarity."
She took the first of the cans over to Insipid first, set it down, and coughed briefly. "Insipid, darling, I'm going to need you to strip down, please?"
Insipid didn't even hesitate to throw off her robe. "I'm ready, Rarity!" she declared, striking a pose that was quite tasteful, actually. "Like, paint me like one of those Romantique mares! Cha!"
Curaçao chuckled and glanced at her father. "So this is why we were wearing these robes, oui?"
"Yes. It will make for easy disrobing for the application process, and then redressing afterwards once the paint has dried. The drying process is short, and the robe's material is light enough that it will not disturb the paint."
Silvertongue turned briefly towards Rarity's friends to see that everypony had politely averted their gazes in one way or another. He appreciated that nopony was trying to catch a peek, even if some of them might likely want to. They were still his daughters, and he found himself feeling more than a little protective of them.
He then turned to Gray, who didn't even need him to say anything before she stepped forward. "Gray, you will be helping me with the final portion of the process. The magical energies from the blood runes and the flames will coalesce in the air, and your control over gravity will create a well which will draw these magics into a single point."
She nodded. "I understand, Dad. You can count on me."
Almost an hour of constant work followed, and finally Dawn, Twilight, and Velvet completed the runic circle. Silvertongue looked over it painstakingly to ensure it was accurate, then called Havoc over to surround it with flames as the next step. Dawn and Velvet had their own paints applied by Rarity—she'd had to wait for them to finish their work—and soon, everything was prepped and ready for the final stage of the ritual.
"And so it begins," he said, turning to the group of collected mares. "Now, everypony, you shall all bear witness to something entirely beyond your mortal comprehension, something that even I have a hard time believing is about to be done for it has never been done before. This is history in the making. You should all feel proud to be a part of it."
"You're makin' this sound like a bigger deal than it is," Winter noted, arching an eyebrow. "You talk with Nihila all the time, don't you? And so does Harmonia's Warden for her, for that matter. Supposedly she can communicate directly with regular ponies through her Warden. Does it work differently for Nihila?"
"Not exactly, but you are mostly correct. However, there is much more to what is about to be done than simply speaking with Nihila, my dear Chronomancer," he said with a smile. "Trust me, you will find what happens to be very interesting."
He beckoned Gray over to the runic circle, and she did as she was asked. Once she was in the indicated position, she flared her wings out to full wingspan and held them there. The other mares all took a half step back as they felt an intense burst of gravity radiate from the center of the circle, strong enough that it started to suck the flames into it to create a very bizarre pyramid shape.
"She has magic too?" Twilight asked, looking to Silvertongue.
"Yes. She can control gravitational forces with the movement of her wings," he explained briefly. "But you may satiate your curiosity later, Miss Sparkle. For now, I must proceed with the ritual."
Silvertongue cleared his throat, and recited aloud from memory the incantation; he noticed Curaçao listening intently, silently repeating the words to herself, for she was fluent in the language used.
"Le sang est l'essence de notre vie
La magie, notre raison d'exister
Leur réunion libérera des conflits
Notre monde qui en a tant enduré
Par la Lumière, nous aidons ceux que nous aimons
Par les Ténèbres, nous vainquons toute appréhension
Ensemble, elles sont un pouvoir sans fin
Qui changera un mal en un bien!
Apparais, Alicorne, et réponds de tes péchés!"
The runic circle glowed brighter than even the Beacon's light, and the painted markings along his and his daughters' coats shimmered bright and clear. Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash, and a colossal explosion rocked the entire building, shattering windows all the way down. Everypony apart from himself were knocked off balance as the roof itself shuddered and cracked, starting from the center of the runic circle and spreading outwards.
The Beacon's light waned ever so slightly.
The area where the circle had been became shrouded in a faint cloud of purple magic that glittered like diamonds in sand. Only Silvertongue was left standing tall and unwavered, his face alight with excitement as the smoke slowly cleared until there were only traces of sparkly magic left. A silhouette appeared within the smoke as it thinned, slowly trying to stand and doing a rather poor job of it.
And once the last of the smoke and magic had ebbed away, the eyes of all those present—save for Silvertongue—widened in surprise, and each let out a little gasp in awe.
The mare that appeared was tall, taller even than Silvertongue. She was thin and elegant, built with a graceful posture. Her coat was a ghastly color, not quite purple but not quite black, and shimmered with cleanliness and luster. Her mane and tail gleamed a brilliant, metallic silver, their shape and rigidity resembling blades. She was nude, making it easy to see her that her body's tone was incredibly lithe, leanly muscled and physically intimidating. Her long, sharp horn was longer than any unicorn's, and her great, long wings were of a greater wingspan than any pegasus.
Nihila, the alicorn goddess herself, in the flesh for the first time in an eternity.
She stood tall and looked at Silvertongue with something that was likely truly alien to her: confusion. Complete and utter confusion. When she spoke, her voice was like ice, rapidly cooling the air and sending a chill down his spine.
"My Warden, what is the meaning of this?" she demanded, her teeth clenched tightly. "What have you done?" Her gaze shifted and caught the sight of Twilight Sparkle and her friends, and suddenly the confusion gave way to excitement. "Ah, I see. Then this unorthodox circumstance is what was necessary for me to proceed with our plans?"
"Indeed it is, my lady," Silvertongue said, keeping his tone calm and collected. "Everything has come to pass exactly as we had envisioned it."
"Excellent. Excellent indeed. I have been anticipating this moment for many days now, and at last, victory is within my grasp." She lifted her hooves up to glance at her new form. "Hmm, so this is how it feels to possess flesh and bone, is it? Hmph, how pathetic. This mortal form feels so weak and insignificant."
"A temporary inconvenience, my lady," Silvertongue said with a grin. "It will all be over soon enough. For now, as you can see, we have guests, and time is of the essence. Perhaps you should proceed with your plans for them?"
"That sounds wonderful, yes, I think that I will do just that." She licked her lips and stared right at Twilight. "Hmm, I believe I shall start with you, the leader of this pitiful band."
Twilight took half a step back, her eyes darting between Nihila and Silvertongue. "Wh-what is she talking about? What's going on?"
"You wish to return to your precious home, little worm? I will grant you that boon, certainly," Nihila chuckled. "But surely my Warden told you that I expect something in return, did he not?"
"He did," Winter said, placing herself between Twilight and Nihila. "So what, exactly, do you want from us?"
She grinned wide. "Everything."
She ignited her horn, and a ferocious blast of rippling dark magic screeched towards Twilight. Both Winter and Twilight raised barriers to defend themselves.
Instead, the blast impacted a shield that Dawn had erected, cascading about before dissipating entirely.
"I will not permit you to bring harm to my friends!" Dawn snarled, stepping between Winter and Nihila now.
Nihila's confusion returned, this time tinged with rage. "You dare to defy me, you miserable little pawn?!" she hissed, anger flaring in her voice that was hot enough to warm the air around them. "Know your place! Stand aside!"
"I will do no such thing," Dawn retorted.
Nihila paused, then just let out a sinister chuckle and turned to Silvertongue briefly. "Your daughters have grown too independent, my Warden. Her impudence amuses me. But I have no need for insubordinate minions." She turned back to Dawn and let her smile widen. "And so now I shall do what I should have done in the first place, and assume direct control."
Her horn glowed black for a few moments.
But nothing happened.
Nihila's confusion returned again. "What is this?" She turned back to Silvertongue. "Why can I not control her?"
"Control me?" Dawn asked, arching an eyebrow but standing firm, shield still as strong as ever. "I am no pawn to be controlled."
Nihila looked at her for a long moment, then turned towards her other sisters, horn glowing black. Most of the mares all flinched slightly; they'd clearly seen the kind of power Nihila wielded. Only Gray and Havoc, likely expecting or perhaps eager for a fight, remained steadfast.
But nothing happened.
"What is this?" she seethed, turning her gaze back to Silvertongue. "Warden! What did you do to them such that I cannot take what is rightfully mine? Answer me!" she snapped, her horn glowing red.
Silvertongue clicked his tongue and shook his head. "Tsk tsk, my lady, such a harsh tone. Whatever seems to be the matter? Can't you read my mind?" he added with a smirk as he tapped his temple, where the blue runic markings still glowed fiercely.
She attempted to step towards him, but immediately found her movements greatly restricted. She looked about herself and at the glowing circle of runic markings she was in; the runes of blood glowed with increased intensity whenever she attempted to move more than an inch or so.
She glared at him with even more ferocity than before, as if she was attempting to set him on fire with her gaze alone. "What is this? What have you done?"
Silvertongue turned to Twilight for a moment and gave her a polite smile. "Miss Sparkle, I am afraid I have indeed been quite dishonest with you all this time. Your original assessment was correct: this is a trap." He then turned back to Nihila. "But it was not for you."
"None can resist my might! None! I am Nihila, Darkess incarnate! I cannot be contained!" She tried to move again, but found herself nearly collapsing to the ground, held in place by the runic magic. "How is this possible?!"
"I must say I regret that I'll never be able to thank Galdorhoff for his marvelous work, A Treatise on Alicorns. There's a tremendous amount of ancient Dark magic in the spells I've used here, you see. The other gryphons didn't exactly see eye to eye with him, naturally, and exiled him years before you and I even met."
Then, Silvertongue grinned; it was time to play the hand that he'd carefully crafted over centuries. "But I learned of him and his theories, and I sought him out. I ensured his greatest achievement would not be lost to time. And now, after all these years, his efforts have finally been allowed to shine. A pity he never had the chance to see it."
Nihila snapped. "You traitorous whelp! I will destroy you!"
Her horn flared with the brightness of a small star, its color a bright, sinister orange. He stiffened for an instant as she unleashed the blast of magic at him from nearly point-blank range.
The blast careened off with a resounding explosive blast that shook the entire tower once again. As the blast ricocheted away, it circled the Beacon's light like liquid caught in a drain.
Silvertongue's smug grin widened as he pat Dawn proudly on the shoulder; she had stepped to his side the instant Nihila's horn had started to glow, as she had done for Twilight before him. Only this time, she'd deflected not a simple mind alteration spell, but a fully-lethal energy blast.
"You shall not harm my father so long as I am standing," Dawn spat, her words wavering slightly. She'd clearly come to the unsettling realization that the blast she'd just reflected had carried more force in it than anything she'd ever seen before
"Well done my dearest Dawn," Silvertongue said, eliciting a proud smile from his daughter, her face alight with confidence. "Your barrier is strong enough to resist even the strength of an alicorn's magic. Outstanding. Absolutely outstanding."
"You…" Nihila hissed, her words dripping with poisonous bile that made Dawn take another step back as if she was suddenly very, very ill. There was no physical harm, but the venom that oozed from the word must have stung as if it did. "You miserable, insignificant little wretch. I gave you life! You soul belongs to me! You would betray me as well?!"
Dawn arched an eyebrow and glanced at her father briefly, but he did not meet her gaze; this was not the time to explain things.
"I think you are forgetting, Nihila, one very important aspect of betrayal," Silvertongue said as he straightened his mane with a hoof. "Betrayal implies that one was loyal to you to begin with, and then broke that trust. The thing about me is… I was never loyal to you," he added with a smile. "So how could I betray you?"
Nihila's eyes narrowed and she hissed again, her words so filled with hate and anger that everypony present save for him took a step back. "You lie. I've seen your every thought, I've seen your every action! You have dedicated your entire being to serving me for hundreds of years!"
"I know," Silvertongue said with a knowing smile. "But that was all a part of the plan."
"You betrayed Harmonia to serve me! You say that you are still loyal to her? Ha!" She laughed, her mouth curling in a sneer. "You have committed acts that she would never forgive, regardless of your intentions. Harmonia's Light would tear you apart were you so much as to enter her presence ever again."
Silvertongue hummed. "I can see how that might be an issue. After all, I eradicated a peace-loving race of scholars after goading them into helping me build the Beacons. The plague that devoured them still taints the very land itself with undead horrors. I order murders on a frankly disturbingly frequent basis. I have ensured that a city of millions is so fraught with strife and disorganization that it spreads disparity like a virus in a self-perpetuating cycle. Oh yes, that definitely sounds like somepony allied with Harmonia."
Nihila angrily flared her horn again and attempted to attack him out of pure, unadulterated rage from being taunted. The blast of magic was, again, reflected haphazardly away by Dawn's protective shield, but the force of the blast knocked Dawn off balance and she stumbled for a moment before recovering.
Silvertongue laughed. "I have waited centuries for this opportunity, Nihila. Year after year, decade after decade, waiting for you to finally drop your guard and to allow me but a few brief moments of privacy that I may at long last complete the mission that I set out upon all those years ago. And that's where these wonderful little ponies came in."
He gestured out towards both his daughters and Twilight and her friends, all of whom had played their parts in this. "Ah, you were so easily distracted by the prospect of destroying your counterpart that you ignored me to watch as your plan came to fruition."
Dawn blinked, confused. "What 'plan', Father? What are you talking about?"
"I will spare you most of the details, but suffice to say, Nihila was under the impression that the assignments I gave to you and your sisters were meant to lure your new friends into trusting you, only so that she could attempt to corrupt their minds and turn them against Harmonia."
"So there was a plan there to get us to trust them," Twilight said, clenching her teeth. "I thought you said that everything they'd done was with good intentions!"
"Oh, it was," Silvertongue said with a grin. "The best of intentions, in fact. Thanks to the friendship developed between yourselves and my daughters, the bonds of trust forged between all of you, you were able to work together here at the final hour to make this," he added, gesturing at Nihila's struggling form, "possible."
Dawn shook her head. "I do not understand, Father. I was led to believe we were to be of assistance to them? Was it all… just to do this? To distract this Nihila creature so that you could enact a plot to destroy her?"
Silvertongue sighed. "That is not entirely inaccurate, my dear. But it is more complicated than that."
Nihila snorted, barely managing to rise to her hooves. "Why do you make false attempts to comfort your 'daughter', worm? Why not tell her that I am her 'mother' if you are so concerned with being her 'father'? I am at least as much responsible for her existence as you are."
"M-mother?" Dawn sputtered.
Silvertongue frowned in Nihila's direction. "For shame, Nihila. I am her father. I have given her and her sisters all of my heart. A piece of me resides within them all. Your contributions to their lives have been practically immaterial, and perhaps even detrimental. At best you could be considered a distant aunt."
"You miserable…" Nihila seethed, flaring her horn again and firing another powerful burst of magic at Silvertongue.
Again, it was reflected away by Dawn's shield and sent careening off into the Beacon's funnel, though this time the blast had been strong enough that Dawn winced and fell to her knees. Twilight approached briefly, but Dawn turned and held up her hoof in a gesture to stop her.
"No, Twilight, stay back," Dawn said as she stood back up. "This 'alicorn' wishes to bring harm to my father. It is my duty to protect him, not yours."
"But—" Twilight started.
"No," Dawn interjected. "I will not risk your well-being as well. Stay back."
Silvertongue clapped Dawn on the shoulder proudly. "You are performing admirably, my dear. Do not worry, it will be over soon."
He turned to Nihila and smiled again; he needed only a little more energy to make this last part of the process work, and so he needed to keep Nihila angry so that she would bring that energy to bear. Dawn would only need to last a little while longer.
"It was nice to see you in the flesh for the first time, Nihila," he said with a cocky smirk. "My apologies that it won't be for much longer. How does it feel, I wonder? Honestly, I wish to know. You have fallen for my deception and waltzed merrily into my trap. How does it feel to be the goddess of lies and yet be deceived?"
"Your precious daughter cannot stand against me for much longer, cur," Nihila said with a sneer. "Even like this, I am more powerful than any living mortal. Nor will these runes hold me forever. I will savor your soul when I devour it, traitor! You will regret ever being born!"
"You can continue to struggle if you'd like, my lady," he replied. "But my trap for you is more than a simple circle of runic magic. I have accounted for everything."
He then pointed at the Beacon, which was now glowing incredibly bright and had grown in thickness to the point that it had expanded beyond the hole in the center of the roof and was slowly eating away at the concrete and metal around it, as if it had been supercharged.
"The Beacon is more than just a magical font of energy that coats the heavens with the powers of Darkness. It is also a magnet for those same Dark energies, which you have been funneling into it steadily since your arrival here. That power will be turned against you, and you will be powerless to stop it. Your very own power will destroy you."
Nihila laughed, a chilling sound that seemed to freeze the air around them. "You bluff. What do you think you can do, hmm? If you destroy me, your precious world will be thrown out of balance permanently. It will never recover. You would destroy your world, just to stroke your precious ego?"
"On the contrary," Silvertongue said, his grin widening. "Destroying you is exactly what I'm going to do, and I know exactly what the consequences are. What's the matter? Don't you trust me?"
Nihila angrily flared up her horn again, and once more Dawn was ready with another barrier. This time, however, Nihila did not merely fire a single blast but a continuous, roiling stream, slowly forcing the bubble of magic to deflate inwards, like a needle pressing against a balloon; and soon, it would pop.
Dawn strained to maintain the shield, her teeth clenched, her face caked with sweat.
Twilight took another step forward. "Dawn!"
Dawn turned to her. "No! He is my father, and I will protect him!"
"No, we will!" Havoc shouted, stepping up beside Dawn and helping her to her hooves. "He's our dad too, Dawn! Let us help!"
"We're with you, sis!" Insipid cheered as she came around to Dawn's other side to help Havoc help Dawn. "Let's, like, show this weird-looking mare who's boss!"
"Nopony hurts our dad," Gray said, stepping behind Dawn and keeping her steady. "We've got your back."
Curaçao joined them, stepping beside Dawn and locking hooves with her. "Whatever we can do, we will do it."
"Yeah!" cheered Velvet, patting Dawn on the shoulder. "Let's kick some butt!"
Dawn looked between her sisters, grinned, and lit up her horn brighter than before, enveloping the six of them in a white glow. The barrier suddenly reinforced itself and expanded twice over.
Nihila sneered and focused more power into her blast, forcing back the empowered shield slowly. "I am Nihila! Darkness incarnate! I will not be denied!"
Her maddened glare and enraged snarl did not deter Silvertongue, though he could see that the other mares present were not so unaffected, and in fact some looked positively frightened.
But now, it was time.
Silvertongue ignited his horn with a red glow, and as he did, the Beacon's massive energy stream flowed towards him in tiny spark-like orbs, floating through the air like fireflies and collecting around his horn. The power coursing through him now was incredible; it made his entire body shiver. And then, from memory, he recited:
"Alicorne, voici ton heure dernière
Face à ma force, tu finiras par fléchir
J'entends à présent l'ultime Lumière
Dans les Ténèbres, je t'enverrai dépérir
Ton enveloppe physique, pour l'éternité
De sang et de magie sera dépossédée!"
As the incantation completed, Silvertongue's horn glowed a brilliant gold and pierced through Dawn's barrier like lightning, striking Nihila in the chest.
She screamed in pain, and her head snapped away, causing her energy blast to wildly screech through the air, igniting smog off in the distance. She collapsed to her knees, her horn firing the spell downwards towards the city, slicing through a large chunk of the Pandora Tower as she did so.
Twilight, in what was clearly an act of quick thinking, raised a barrier spell of her own to prevent Nihila's rampaging magic from doing any damage to the rest of the city nearby, and potentially innocent lives. The sheer force of the blasts, taken entirely by Twilight's magic alone, was enough to wear her down quickly; she very nearly collapsed.
Then, in an instant, Nihila's frenzied discharge ceased, and she writhed in agony.
Her screams were haunting, causing the air around them to blacken in horror at what was passing through it. Her eyes rapidly flashed between normal and a shining white, and with a final cry, her body exploded in a shower of golden sparks that rocketed out and up from the circle like fireworks.
Everypony present watched in awe as the sparks slowly began to coalesce.
Then, without warning, the energy raced towards Silvertongue himself and impacted his chest, knocking him flying back and slamming into the metal railing with enough force to tear through it.
*****
In that brief instant, Silvertongue saw nothing but a field of gold and orange in equal measure.
He felt no pain. He felt no cold. He felt nothing at all, really.
As he looked down at himself, he saw that he barely had a physical form at all.
Adding onto the curiosity, a spark of purplish energy had manifested nearby, and just as quickly disappeared, whisked away by some unseen force.
But before he could try to discern what had happened, he felt something. Like a tug, but not on his sleeve or his tail, but on his very soul.
And just as quickly as it had appeared, the field of gold and orange vanished into darkness.
*****
Twilight could feel the ringing in her ears still pounding away after trying to block Nihila's destructive spellcasting from hurting anypony out in the city. It took her a moment to rise back up to her hooves, just in time to see Silvertongue struck in the chest by a golden light that had once been Nihila's form.
"Father!" Dawn cried, frantically flaring up her horn brighter than ever and catching Silvertongue with her magic before he flew off the roof.
She safely pulled him back onto the tower and set him down next to her and her sisters. They hastily gathered around to see if he was okay.
He did not get up.
Twilight was unsure if she should say anything, or if she should even approach. Everything that had just happened was far beyond her. Not just the magical feats on display that she'd never seen before, but the emotional ordeal currently unfolding before her eyes.
"Father? Father, no…" Dawn said in horror.
"Dad, c'mon… get up…" Gray worriedly added.
"Daddy…" Insipid sniffed.
Then, to everypony's surprise, his body began to glow with the same golden light that his horn had before. Dawn and her sisters all stepped back in shock, not just because of the glow, but because he was moving.
He staggered to his hooves, obviously in colossal pain judging from his awkward steps alone, but more from his anguished screams.
Dawn reached out with a hoof, obviously desperate to lend him aid, but Curaçao stopped her and beckoned for her just to watch. She visibly ached, watching him in the throes of agony; Twilight's heart ached for her as well, unsure what she could do to help.
Silvertongue clutched his head and screamed some more, and his horn began to grow, a full few inches until it was longer than any unicorn's. There came a loud ripping sound and a flash of light, and suddenly wings burst out of the sides of his armor. His whole body grew slightly in turn, legs lengthening and figure elongating, muscles strengthening and pressing against his armor.
Then the glow gradually dimmed and died, and Silvertongue lay there for a long time before moving again. He warily rose to his hooves, the paint that once graced his coat melting away into the air without a trace.
Dawn rushed over to him and anxiously helped him stand. "Father, are you alright?" she asked worriedly. "Please, Father, speak to me."
His breathing was ragged and short, his eyes closed. Dawn brought her head under his chin to try and help him raise his head up. Her sisters came over as well and helped where they could to get him over to what was left of the railing so that he could lean against it.
His breathing slowly returned to normal, and he blinked his eyes open.
Until this point, Twilight had seen that one of Silvertongue's eyes was very different from the other, a black void with a tiny speck of gold within it that moved like any proper pupil should. It was a little disconcerting, but also intriguing in its own way; what magical injury had he sustained to have his eye heal like that?
Now, though, his eye was completely gold, shining with a brilliance rivaling a distant star. There was no longer any trace of the black void there, and without it, there was no indication of where that eye of his was looking whatsoever. Twilight wasn't sure if this was an improvement or not.
"Wow, Pops, you look…" Havoc muttered, awe in her voice as she hesitantly reached out to touch one of his wings; Dawn swat her hoof away. "Hey!"
"Pretty…" Insipid cooed, stars in her eyes. "You look pretty, Daddy."
"Imposing," Dawn corrected, likely in an attempt to return some sense of masculinity to the praise. "What has happened to you, Father? Your anatomy has shifted to resemble Nihila's."
Silvertongue smiled broadly and shook off his stupor, then flicked his new wings gingerly, eying them with curiosity and awe.
"Well now, that is something, isn't it?" he chuckled. "How intriguing. They feel almost natural, as if they've always been there. Flight was almost a dwindling curiosity to me, but now that it is so easily within my grasp, it feels as though I've always known."
"Father, what does this all mean?" Dawn asked, tilting her head as she eyed his longer horn. "Everything has transpired so quickly that I do not understand the ramifications of it."
"It's simple, my dear," he said with a smile. "With this ritual, I have finally vanquished Nihila from our world; her evil will not darken the hearts and minds of others ever again. And, by absorbing her power, I can ensure that the Beacon's light is maintained, and that the world retains its balanced state."
He then turned towards Twilight and the others. "So, with that done, I suppose it's finally time to deal with all of you."
"So, all of this was to make you into the alicorn god of darkness and evil," Winter stated, stepping defensively in front of Twilight her friends. "I can't believe we fell for this shit." She turned to Twilight briefly. "Stay behind me, Twilight."
"No offense, Winter, but not only do I doubt you can hold him off alone, but I'm not about to let you attempt to do it alone." Twilight lit up her horn defensively. "I'm with you, all the way."
"Us, too!" Applejack said, stepping forward. "We're used to dealin' with evil folks back home. We might be at a disadvantage, but you'll find that we're a hard-headed bunch."
Silvertongue chuckled and shook his head. "I think there has been a misunderstanding here. A poor choice of words on my part, it seems. Do you really think that after everything that's happened, I would now betray our agreement? With all that's at stake?"
Rainbow, hooves up as if the fight would come to physical blows, arched an eyebrow. "Uh… yeah? I mean, you just got done bragging about lying to some goddess of lies, so why would we trust you?"
Havoc grunted. "Hey! Watch what you're saying about my dad, Rainbow Dork!"
"After everything that's been said, do you all still really trust him?" Rarity asked, looking at Insipid. "He practically admitted to using all of you in this scheme of his. That's not something fathers do to their daughters."
Insipid frowned and shook her head. "But… but if it wasn't for him, like, I'd have never met you, Rarity. You're my best friend. Why does it matter why?"
Rarity blinked. "That's… a rather profound way of looking at it."
Fluttershy nodded. "I agree. Just because he did… whatever it is he just did, that doesn't necessarily make him evil, right?"
"He admitted to committing genocide!" Twilight blurted. "He's obviously evil!"
Fluttershy gulped, then nodded. "I... I mean... I suppose you have a point..."
"Twilight—" Dawn started.
Silvertongue held her back with his hoof. "She's right, Dawn. I have committed acts over the great many years that I have been Nihila's Warden which are unspeakable and unforgivable. But they were necessary evils. I had to do what needed to be done.
"Nihila is gone," he continued. "It was by her command that I even needed to perform such atrocities, but they needed to be done, or Nihila would just continue to raise army after army until one day she won, and the entire world would then be bathed in fire and blood. I did what needed to be done to finally put an end to her evil. So yes, Miss Sparkle, I am certainly not a virtuous sort. But I am not the villain of your story."
"So you have no intention of harming us? You're just going to send us home?" Twilight asked, very much doubting every word he said, but willing to hear him out if only for Dawn's sake.
"Of course. What benefit do I gain from doing otherwise?"
"I don't know, but given all that's happened, you'll forgive me if I don't exactly find you trustworthy."
He shook his head. "Miss Sparkle, you are absolutely welcome to explore other avenues if you wish not to accept my help, but I believe it would be fair to point out that you're running out of time. Are you planning on finding your own way south to meet with Harmonia? I can assure you, that your friend Lockwood would need to move the moon and stars above to make that happen within a respectable timeframe for seven ponies.
And once you do arrive in the south, you will then need to contact Harmonia herself. Not an easy task, as she is not expecting your arrival and is not nearly as proactive as I was in finding you. And then there are other particulars to sending you home that will not be entirely within her reach, assuming the southern continent is as I last remember it, and I trust my sources are accurate on the matter."
Twilight frowned. "So basically, either we accept help from you, or else we're on our own?" With a sigh, she added. "I don't like those odds... but I don't like any of this, either."
"You agreed to this weeks ago, Twilight," Winter huffed. "Don't go gettin' cold hooves on me now that we're so close."
"Just because I agreed to it then doesn't mean I like it. I haven't liked the thought of taking help from Nihila or her Warden since the start, but staring the situation right in the face is... it's different."
Rainbow grunted. "Can't say I disagree with ya, Twi. No offense, Havoc, but your dad's not exactly earning brownie points with us considering what we've heard about him."
Havoc grumbled. "He's just trying to help you, Dash, can't you see that?"
Silvertongue nodded. "I understand your trepidation, all of you, but you must also understand that there is nothing to gain from betraying you given the circumstances. My world's balance benefits from your safe departure, and I have no desire to do harm to a world that is not even my own. While the existence of other worlds at all is intriguing to me, it is my world that concerns me the most. So long as nothing threatens its sovereignty, of course."
Winter gulped. "Yeah, of course." Twilight found her tone odd; did she know something he didn't?
"So… assumin' we agree with ya, what now?" Applejack asked. "Do ya just cast a spell or somethin' and send us back?"
Winter sighed and shook her head. "I need to work with him on the specifics of a portal that will meet the requirements. It has to work only one way so we don't accidentally draw anypony else over here, it has to be stable so that you all survive the trip, and it has to be temporary so that I can close it up again afterwards. We just need to gather the materials—"
Silvertongue smirked. "I have already procured them for you, Miss Glow."
She blinked. "Huh? How do you even know what I need?"
"Gryphons experimented with portal technomagic a long, long time ago, my dear. An attempt to circumvent the difficulty of teleportation magic via their own means, and they were quite successful, if a bit short-sighted. This portal you're constructing would naturally require similar means, only with stricter requirements."
He gestured to the Beacon. "Proximity to the Beacon allows me to funnel the maximum amount of energy into the portal's aperture, which will need to be constructed of a particular type of metal, obidium, which will prevent the magical energies from surging out of control, containing them in a tighter area. A magical gem conduit will serve as a focus, and a powerful one at that. Am I missing anything?"
Winter blinked. "Uh... no, that's all... exactly it." She scratched her head. "Huh. Here I was worried it might take some time to get these things together, but it sounds like should only take us a few hours tops to assemble things."
Applejack adjusted her hat. "Shucks, that don't sound so bad."
"So we can go home in just a few hours, huh?" Rainbow asked, scratching her head. "I mean, I was expecting to come here and get going right away, but I guess knowing how close we are is kind of nice. Feels good, y'know? Like knowing what time you've gotta catch a train."
"Well, if we're really doing this... is there anything we can do to help?" Twilight asked.
Silvertongue laughed. "My dear Miss Sparkle, you and your companions have already done more than enough for me. It would be rude of me to ask for further assistance from any of you." He shook his head. "No, I think you can take the time to rest and relax however you wish. If you would prefer, you may utilize Pandora Tower and all of its facilities for the time being."
Twilight nodded. "I suppose that would be the best option, since it'll keep us close by for whenever you're finished working." She turned to Dawn. "Not to mention that I think a few of us would like to have an opportunity to have a… conversation."
Dawn returned the nod. "I concur."
Fluttershy, of all ponies, made a peep to draw everypony's attention. "Um… if it's alright, we have some… other friends that would probably like to join in that conversation. Would it be alright if we invite them along?"
Silvertongue smiled. "Please, be my guests. After all, I owe you and your companions a great deal for today's success, and I would very much like to show my appreciation however possible."
PInkie gasped and smiled. "Guys! You know what this means?! A—"
Rainbow put her hoof over Pinkie's mouth. "It does not mean a party."
"Aww…"
"If there's nothing else, then I suppose we should be going, to leave you and Winter to do your work," Twilight said. She glanced around at the ruined roof of the tower. "Um… h-how do we get down from here?"
Dawn smiled and stepped forward. "Allow me, Twilight." She turned to her sisters. "Gather around, all of you."
Curaçao cleared her throat. "If it is all the same to you, Dawn, I would prefer to spend my time elsewhere." She glanced at Twilight and her friends briefly. "I do not know Mademoiselle Sparkle and her comrades as well as you all do, and I feel I would be intruding."
"Aww, you don't have to feel like that," Pinkie said with a smile. "We're all friends here! You can be our friend too!"
Curaçao shook her head. "Ah, I appreciate the offer, but I must decline. I have somepony else I would rather spend my time with, no offense. The events up here have damaged the tower, and she is likely worried or frightened."
Velvet gave a knowing smile and nodded. "Hey, that's cool, no hard feelings, sis. Have fun!"
Dawn nodded as well. "Very well, sister, I will leave you to your own business." Then she turned back to Twilight. "With that, let us proceed."
She ignited her horn, encasing herself and everypony else that was going with her in a white glow, and in an instant, they all disappeared in a flash.