Kara took on a sympathetic face, strolling towards Sonata. "You poor thing. I can help with that. Stallions can be so mean at times, but they don't intend to be. It's just in their nature."
Sonata jerked a bit in surprise, glancing around. "It is?" Her eyes stopped wandering when Kara seemed to fill her view, and their eyes met.
"I am a goddess of love. I can soothe these troubled hearts, and give you the happy ending you want, and deserve." Kara reached up a hoof, lifting Sonata's chin.
Applejack approached angrily, "Hey! Don't go pickin' on Sonata!" But Kara ignored her, and Sonata didn't seem to hear her. They were alone despite being in the room with all the others.
"Sonata, you idiot, get away from her!" Lex's angry shout seemed to have no effect, the two ignoring everything other than each other.
Refusing to be ignored, Lex brandished his wand again as he strode up to Sonata and shoved her away from the goddess, standing to face Kara himself. "Don't you dare touch her!"
Pressing against Sonata proved to be more easily said than done, as he realized he had stepped through her, and could only glare at Kara from a new angle. The two were there, and yet out of sync with all others in the room.
Sonata trembled softly, "I... I don't want to force him. I want real love. I..." She looked off, eyes turning towards others in the room, but not seeming to see them. "I love him, but he hates me. I thought I was getting through, but he's so angry." Fresh tears began to build in her eyes. "Why am I so bad at this?"
Kara softly tsked at Sonata. "Poor thing. You're obviously trying very hard. I will help you, this one time. All I want is for you to remember me fondly." She ran a hoof down Sonata's chest. "That's it. No other strings attached."
Scootaloo flew across the room with her flaming rapier drawn, but proved as effective as Lex, phasing through Kara to land on the other side of her. "Cheater!"
Lex spat a quick enchantment, and with an ache in his muscles that was the cost of retaining the spell, unleashed another flurry of magic missiles, this time targeting the goddess. Being force projections, they should have been able to damage her even if she were incorporeal...
...only for them to likewise phase through her harmlessly. Having no further target, the projectiles struck the opposite wall and winked out harmlessly.
Gnashing his teeth in frustration, and trying to fight down a rising sense of panic, Lex tried to think of what to try next. Whatever that thing was doing to Sonata, he knew it couldn't be good, and that thought was undermining his ability to analyze the situation rationally. That and what Sonata had just said...
Willow scowled at the entire unfolding affair. "We're in her realm. We play by her rules or not at all, unless you think you're ready to face a god in battle."
Sonata pawed at the ground lightly. "He said anyone that tried to force him is evil, and he would hate them forever..."
Kara tilted her head. "Then we'll just be sure to not do that, won't we? Maybe he just doesn't realize how much he's hurting you."
Sonata sniffled loudly. "But... how? I didn't mean to hurt him. He looks so sad, but then he's so angry and I just want to scream!" She clopped a hoof against the ground. "I just want to be with him, as a friend. Am I that bad at being a friend? I did everything they asked me to do... I haven't forced him to like me, or anyone else to do things except really bad people. What do I have to do?"
Kara pet across Sonata's shoulder and back slowly. "Just tell me all about it. How much do you love him?"
Sonata whimpered a little, squirming. "He has these really big ideas, and I want to help him make them true. I don't understand most of them, but he gets so excited when he talks about them. It's the only time he really smiles. He's really cute when he smiles..."
Lex was going to keep trying anyway, but found himself unable to stop from listening to what Sonata was saying. Every word out of her mouth felt like it went directly through him, and for the second time that day he found himself wracked by guilt.
He desperately tried to bury it, tried to focus on his anger at the love goddess. She was making Sonata say all of these things, trying to use her as some sort of pawn in order to manipulate the rest of them. There had to be some way to make her stop, but what?
Closing his eyes, trying to shut everything else out, Lex focused on the problem at hand. They were facing a god. Alright, what did he know about gods? They were supposedly invincible beings, at least where mortals were concerned. But despite that, they were bound by rules that placed limitations on their actions. What were those rules, then, and how could he exploit them?
Unfortunately, all of the texts he'd consulted had been very non-specific regarding the rules that gods were bound by. However, all had agreed that a major one was that they couldn't appear in the mortal world without being called. Which - Lex's brow furrowed as he put two and two together - was likely why Kara wanted them to bring her to Equestria. She couldn't get there under her own power.
She couldn't enter the mortal world under her own power...that sounded familiar...
Lex's eyes snapped open as a plan came to him.
Kara smiled gently. "I would like to see that. Is he capable of smiling?"
Sonata gave a nervous laugh. "Don't say that. He looks like a grump, but he has a heart too. I've seen it..."
Sweetie Belle rubbed a fetlock over her eyes. "Aw, that's really sweet."
Apple Bloom raised a brow towards her. "Yeah, if ya ignore the whole kidnapped by a whatever she is part."
Sunflower threw a leg over Sweetie, squeezing her. "We don't need any fancy god to tell us how to feel." Sweetie approved silently with a smile.
Applejack slid towards Lex. "Ah admit we've had rough times before, but how do we get Sonata outta here?"
"I have an idea. Stand back." He gestured for them all to move away from him as he withdrew a piece of chalk and began drawing on the floor, forcing himself to go slowly as he made numerous complicated sigils, all within a larger circle.
"When I was first sent to Everglow, I panicked. I was desperate to get back to Equestria, and so I attempted an ill-conceived plan." He kept working as he spoke, talking more because he wanted to stave off any interruptions rather than because he cared about informing them what he was doing. "I theorized that dreams operated from a place equidistant to all planes, and so tried a ritual to reach Luna. If it had worked, I would have been able to use her as a reference point to map the planar distance between Equestria and Everglow."
He stepped back from the completed diagram, looking it over carefully for any imperfections. Confident that it was as good as he could make it under these conditions, he withdrew a small packet of powdered gemstones and began emptying it along several gaps in the drawings. That was just one of several sacrifices that would have to be made for this to have even the slightest chance of working...
"It didn't work. In fact, it failed spectacularly." That was an understatement. In fact, it had backlashed so badly that it had turned his own nightmares into a somaticognitive construct - a psychic tulpa - that he had no ability to control. It had no physical presence, but manifested its existence in the material world through his shadow, endlessly taunting him. But that hadn't been all that had happened.
"There was one upside, however. Ever since then, I've been receiving a small amount of sacerdotal thaumaturgy, or as you call them, divine spells." As he spoke, Lex took off several items and placed them at various points around the circle. First went his cloak, then an amulet, and finally an anklet that shrank into a ring once he'd taken it off. All were items that were designed to be protective in nature; hopefully they'd be considered worthy sacrifices. In all likelihood, however, more would be demanded...
"I don't know what deity is granting me this power or why, but if I can summon them here, they might be able to help us." That was only technically true; while he didn't know why he was receiving those divine spells, he was fairly certain it was orthopraxic in nature - that he was living his life in a manner that the deity behind them approved of, similar to how Soft Mane had been for her goddess. While Lex wasn't totally sure what deity was giving him that same benefit, he'd narrowed it down to being either the Moon Princess or the Night Mare. He had never investigated further because he was worried about what the answer might have been.
If this worked, he'd find out...
"Now be quiet. I'll need total concentration to pull this off." Ignoring the fact that no one had said anything, Lex closed his eyes again and began to chant.
The reaction came far sooner than expected. With a dark laugh, a hoof stepped free with a jagged gauntlet worn, with a dark-purple figure stepping out behind it. "Oh what a treat this is." She spun on Lex, leathery wings spread wide. "You would invite a war of the gods so casually? I thought better of you." With a casual flick of one of her wings, Kara and Sonata came into focus. Sonata looked baffled, Kara scowled.
"Oh my, unexpected guests. You should have told me you were coming by." Kara's expression melted into a welcoming expression quickly. "I don't have a worthy welcome prepared."
The darker god frowned. "Spare me your sweet words. I don't have time for them. You are just another feeder of the night, waiting her turn to be brought to yoke."
Kara wriggled. "Oh, Night Mare, you always knew just how to talk to me. You can put a yoke on me whenever you'd like."
"Spare me your advances and release these mortals." Night Mare struck the ground, the realm shaking with her fury. "I have other business to tend to, and they are not important enough to consider for long."
Despite the unexpected ease with which his ritual succeeded, Lex felt his spirits dip at the confirmation of which goddess had been empowering him. Her condescension caused him to grit his teeth - let the gods war with each other, so long as he could protect his charges! - but he swallowed his indignation. Instead, he cast a spell. It was one of the weakest he knew, designed to let him whisper a message without having to be right next to the recipient, though they still had to be close.
Targeting Sonata, he whispered. "Sonata, quickly! To my side!"
Sonata moved swiftly, retreating away from the distracted Kara to Lex's side, looking more confused than alarmed.
Kara shook her head. "Oh, how lovely you are, and yet so wrong. Have them. My business is complete." She turned her eyes to Sonata. "Treat him well."
The Night Mare turned away from her, and with the motion wrenched free those she had been summoned to protect. The entire party stood in a field of infinite stars. She frowned at Sonata. "Your mate is willing to upturn the fabric of this world to protect you." A faint smile touched her features. "I respect that. Stop being so weak and be the queen that deserves to stand at his side." She snorted, fire licking the air in front of her snout. Her attention moved to Lex squarely. "Your service is at an end, and you should consider it a boon that I have delivered it thusly. I would banish you all, but I see some there is yet a decision to be made. Decide quickly."
Willow knew the answer to this, and spoke quickly, "We are not all from the same plane. If she banishes us, we would be separated."
Applejack waved a hoof. "Well alright, if ya want to come with us, send us ta Equestria, and if ya don't, then this is goodbye, and it was a right pleasure meetin' ya."
Scootaloo poked The Night Mare in the shin lightly with a hoof. "Are you a god too?"
The goddess put a hoof on Scootaloo's head. "Your heart is too soft to be one of mine. Begone to your sheltered world." Scootaloo vanished without further ado.
Sweetie squeaked before she vanished as well. "Hey!" Apple Bloom objected, then she too was gone.
Lex had managed to keep his composure, but couldn't help but let out a breath as the dark goddess apparently dismissed him. If that was all she demanded for his asking for her interference, then he was getting off lightly indeed. In the back of his mind though, the analytical part of him noted how useful it had been to have a godly sponsor, and wondered if she would deny him if he tried to call upon her for divine spells in the future...
Resolving that that was one bit of knowledge he could do without, Lex instead turned to look at Willow and Sunflower. "If you wish to join us in Equestria, I will see to it you are comfortable there." The offer was genuine, but he made it largely because it gave him something to focus on besides Sonata...he had no idea what to say to her after everything that had just happened.
Sunflower looked to Willow, frightened and unsure of what was going on. Willow already knew her answer and gently gathered him up. "Send us after the little white one." She smiled at Lex then. "See--" She was gone, Sunflower with her.
That left Applejack and Lex. Applejack tipped her hat. "Well... thank ya kindly."
She glared at Applejack a moment. "Would you protect what is yours, your farm, or that foal, against all that would dare to harm it?"
"'Course ah would. Why?" Applejack raised a brow skeptically, unsure she could believe anything that came from one of these beings.
"She also wishes to go to Equestria," interjected Lex. "We all do." He wanted them out of there before the goddess changed her mind and demanded compensation for getting them out of there.
The Night Mare waved at Lex, and he was gone, leaving only Applejack. "Would you shackle those that would do harm to yours and turn them against your enemies? The night's powers can do great harm, but that harm need not be directed at you. Are you willing to rise up against it, master it, and protect those too feeble to protect themselves? I can feel a power in you. You have tasted it, used it to do battle with the darkness, but darkness will never truly be defeated. Better that it be mastered, and turned against itself and those that wrong you."
Applejack didn't like being alone with this alicorn that put out such an intense aura. It was everything Twilight was afraid of when she daydreamed of disappointing Celestia made real and terribly present. "Now ah appreciate tha helpin' hoof, but ah really should get moseyin' on ta mah family. Ah ain't much for them fancy things."
Applejack's spellbook was wrenched from her saddlebag and held before her in invisible magic. "Lying is the tool of a lesser mind. I can see you do not do it easily, and this pleases me. I prefer honest dealings. Do you feel that? That fear when you gaze into my eyes. You could protect your family and friends from ever having to know that terror. I am a fearsome weapon, but I will only terrify those too weak to wield me properly. Are you weak?"
"Ah ain't weak or nuthin'. You stay away from mah kin or Ah'll..." she trailed off, unsure a swift kick would do much to the being in front of her. "We'll have ta settle things..." It sounded lame in her ears.
The Night Mare laughed softly. "You amuse me more by the word. Enough. I have given my offer. There are no tricks here. That is not my way." She tossed the book aside with a flick of her head. "Abandon that, and I will show you true power. You will be no pawn of mine. I have no use for mindless tools. Take my power and wield it as you wish, against all that would do harm to those you cherish."