CRISIS: Equestria

by GanonFLCL

CRISIS: Equestria - Chapter Thirty-nine

CRISIS: Equestria

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Infinity

When the final portal silently opened, the gaggle of mares tumbled quietly and softly out into a vast, empty expanse of white. The portal closed behind them as soon as it had appeared without even a hint of sound.

Tick Tock was the first to rise to her hooves. She took a deep breath and turned to the others. “Well, everypony, let me be the first Chronomancer to welcome anypony not in our organization to Equestria Prime. Very much against protocol, very likely going to go very badly, but hey, you all should be bloody excited that you’re here, the first non-Chronomancers ever apart from our target.”

The other mares stood and looked around. There was nothing to see anywhere except for themselves and an endless expanse of featureless white. There was no clear indication of whatever surface they were somehow walking on, no way of telling how far the horizon was because there was no horizon, and no source for the light that allowed them all to see but somehow did not cast their shadows. Just white.

“This is Equestria Prime?” Twilight muttered. “It’s so empty.”

“Lonely,” murmured Fluttershy.

“Neat,” said Pinkie, taking out a camera and snapping a picture. “It’s like being on one of those blank storyboards they use to plan out a scene in a movie. Except we’re all in color!”

“What is all this, Tick Tock?” Twilight asked. “I was expecting, I dunno… a world? Like with grass and a sky and everything?”

“As was I,” interjected Starlight. “This monotonous, alabaster plane is an unsatisfactory representation of my initial predictions. Even failing some manner of planetary representation I at least expected some sort of magical phenomena to manifest themselves, similar to the Void’s terrifying rivulets of energy.”

Tick Tock stared at the two in disbelief. “You lot are in the presence of a realm of endless possibilities and knowledge, and all you can think about is that it doesn't look enough like a place you can imagine? This is the heart of reality here, ladies. This is pure creative thought in physical form. Show some bloody excitement.”

“Yawn,” yawned Havocwing and Rainbow in unison. They shot one another terse glances, then smirked at one another.

“Not the response I was hoping for at all,” Tick Tock sighed.

“Forgive me for saying this, but getting here seemed too easy,” Rarity noted. “I don’t even recall passing through these other Equestrias you mentioned, Tick Tock darling. III through I?”

Tick Tock took a deep breath. “As I said: the Void between stable worlds is so thin that you can ride the stream straight through them without so much as a sensation of even visiting them. Those worlds are effectively so dissonant from yours and mine and beyond that we can’t even comprehend their appearance. They have no bearing on our travels, and passing through them would feel practically instantaneous.”

“So as far as you’re concerned, they don’t even exist? Kind of a gip, don’t you think?” Pinkie noted.

“They basically don’t. They don’t even have Chronomancers since they’re unthreatened by Void energies.” Tick Tock shook her head. “But enough banter. We need to find Silvertongue and put an end to this.”

“‘ow do we find ‘im?” Curaçao asked. “Zere is nozing ‘ere to ‘find’, as it were. Ce n'est que du blanc.”

“Yeah, if there was anything to find, we should be able to see it, right?” Havocwing asked. “I mean, we can see to every horizon, and I see nothing but horizon. Actually, I don’t even see the horizon. How far out does this go?”

“I’ll see if I can spot him,” Rainbow offered. She shot up into the air, racing skyward like a lightning bolt. But, she only seemed to move about twenty feet off the ground before she stopped moving entirely. Rainbow didn’t seem to notice, but the others did.

“Well at least it looks like our powers work here,” Havocwing noted, igniting a hoof to double-check. “Weird. How come?”

“This realm is one of limitless possibilities, and thus imposes no limits on what you’re capable of beyond your own self-imposed ones,” Tick Tock explained. “Basically, this world allows you to be your peak self. Unfortunately, that applies to more than just us. Silvertongue will also be at his peak.”

“Quit messin’ around, Rainbow,” Applejack chided.

“Huh?” Rainbow glanced around and saw that she hadn’t moved far. “What? How come I’m not moving?”

“This place doesn’t operate on the same physics as you’re used to. Space is limited and yet infinite at the same time,” Tick Tock noted. “Finding Silvertongue won’t be hard, though. It’s a matter of thinking about it.” She started off into the distance and focused her gaze on nothing in particular, since there was nothing to focus on anyway.

The rest of them stared at her staring at nothing.

“Is… is she okay?” Fluttershy asked.

“I think all the stress is finally getting to her,” Pinkie observed. “She needs a break.”

“I can hear you,” Tick Tock called back. She kept focusing her gaze forward. “This is part of the movement process here. Just a matter of concentration.”

A few more seconds passed. Havocwing threw her hooves in the air. “For buck’s sake! What’re we waiting--”

In an instant, Silvertongue was just a few dozen feet in front of them.

“--for? Uh…” Havocwing nervously shuffled her hooves. “Well. Okay then. Hey, pops.”

Silvertongue turned his attention away from a ball of black, inky substance that he was examining to face the mares. “Ah, there you all are. A few minutes earlier than expected, bravo. I take it Discord wasn’t as much of a distraction as I hoped?”

“Not even close,” Twilight stated, stepping forward. “We’re putting a stop to whatever it is you’re doing, and--” She suddenly bumped into a solid, invisible wall. “Oof!”

The other mares moved forward to find the wall blocked their movement closer to Silvertongue, keeping them a fair distance away. “What’s the big idea, daddy?” Velvet blurted. “I wanted a hug!”

“Hugs can come later, Velvet dear. I simply wish to finish my observations here in peace,” Silvertongue stated cooly. “You’ll find my barrier quite impenetrable at the moment. When I’m ready to deal with you all, then we can ‘have it out’ as they say, whatever that means to each of you. Combat, conversation, or perhaps a little of both.”

“Pops, c’mon, this isn’t right!” Havocwing shouted, banging her hoof on the invisible wall. “We’re lost here, okay? A lot of stuff has happened, and… we need to talk! Please!”

“We got messed up real bad!” Insipid added. “I think we, like, almost died, or whatever? We just wanna, like, figure out what’s going on with us and junk.”

Starlight stepped forward. “Father, I beg you, do not postpone this. I… I fear that whatever happened to us, whatever made us, it has affected us too deeply. Some developments have arisen and we are mentally and emotionally taxed due to the experience. We require your guidance. Please.”

Silvertongue paid them little mind. “Peace, daughters. We shall talk shortly. I am nearly--”

“Y’know, you’ve got an awful lot of nerve,” Applejack stated, pressing up against the wall. “These here girls look to you like a father! I’ve heard ‘em talk about y’all before. They’ve lived their whole lives trying to do right by you, to make you happy, to make you proud. And you’ve just used ‘em. They’re just tools to you!”

“Don’t talk about our pops like that, cowgirl,” Havocwing snarled. “We might be in a truce right now but that doesn't mean I won’t smack the teeth right outta your mouth.”

“Back off, punk,” Rainbow shot back. “I’ll throw down if you want, and we’ve seen how that goes, plenty of times.”

“If you must interrupt my train of thought,” Silvertongue interjected. “I see no reason why you assert that just because of how you think I’ve treated or am treating my girls means I don’t care for them. I feel pride in their accomplishments and disappointment in their failures, just as any father would of their progeny.”

“You’re not even their real father!” Applejack snapped. “You made ‘em! In a lab! It’s messed up, what you did. Ya took us, and made other ponies outta us, then made ‘em all twisted! There ain’t no love there!”

Rarity nervously put her hoof on Applejack’s shoulder. “Applejack, darling, perhaps antagonizing him isn’t--”

“He needs ta hear it, Rarity. Y’all know I don’t much like ponies that don’t treat their kids right.”

“You’d best take your marshmallow friend’s advice,” Velvet threatened, brandishing a tendril of blood. “Or else you’re gonna have a bad time.”

“No no, daughters, let her speak,” Silvertongue interjected. “An interesting theory, Applejack. A question for you, then, since you’re a farmer: do you not take pride in the work you do on your farm?”

Applejack blinked. “Sure, but--”

“When you grow a fresh batch of your namesake apples, for example, and send them off to market, are you not proud of your creation when ponies consume them? Do you not feel a sense of elation when other ponies speak enthusiastically about your passion? Those apples are your children, in a sense. It’s perfectly natural to feel a sense of love in such circumstances.”

“That ain’t the same thing and y’all know it! These girls ain’t just apples, they’re livin’, breathin’ ponies!”

“Isn’t it? When the author writes his novel, does he not consider that work his creation? Does he not consider that creation like an extension of himself? I may not have sired my daughters through the traditional means, but they are still my creations all the same, and I love them, despite their faults.”

“But they ain’t like that! They love ya back, and ya don’t even acknowledge it!”

“Don’t I?” Silvertongue shook his head. “When they helped me destroy Nihila, I gave them the freedom to do whatever it is they wished to do with their lives. I had intended to complete my own goals, first, then I could return to them and be the loving, doting father you seem to imply that I’m not.”

“Horseapples. They did a job for ya, and when y’all were done ya just cast ‘em aside.” She turned to Curaçao. “Ain’t that right?” Curaçao remained silent, merely staring at Silvertongue with a keen interest. “If y’all call that ‘love’ then I can see why Harmonia turned down yer offer.”

Silvertongue shrugged. “I can see that arguing with you over the semantics of sentiment is a waste of time. A pity.”

“Father, ignore her!” Starlight called. “Whatever your intentions are with this… this Prime place, please, we must converse with you first! It is imperative to us!”

Twilight nudged Starlight. “Starlight, your dad’s trying to destroy reality or something, I think conversations are off the table at the moment. You know we have to stop him, right?”

“I… I realize the situation is not ideal, but… I...”

Silvertongue turned his attention full on Tick Tock. “Is that what you told them, Chronomancer? That I wish to destroy reality?”

“Something to that effect,” Tick Tock snarled. She stared at the inky ball he was holding aloft in his magic. “Why don’t you put that down and we can all have a nice chat over some tea, maybe not do anything drastic here.”

“Whatever it is you’re up to, we’re gonna put a stop to it!” Rainbow declared.

“Oh? Do any of you have any idea what, exactly, it is I’m ‘up to’ in the first place? Besides whatever speil the Chronomancer gave you, of course.”

“Well… no, but… it can’t be good! You’re a total bad guy!”

Silvertongue grunted, and turned his attention back to the inky ball. “Your Chronomancer knows what this is that I have here. But she’s so dedicated to her ‘duty’ that she’ll tell you whatever she needs to in order to put an end to my work, even if it’s inaccurate. Why don’t I give you all a little idea what exactly it is you’re dealing with here, so that you can appreciate the scope of the matter.”

“Great, here comes the villain monologue,” Pinkie muttered. She reached into her mane and pulled out a small box of popcorn. “Take a seat, girls, we’ll be here a while.”

Silvertongue spun the swirling ball of ink in the air, and in an instant the vast expanse of white turned completely black, filled with countless, endless stars. Everypony, save for Tick Tock, marveled at the sudden sight. “This is reality, in a crude representation that anypony could understand,” Silvertongue stated. “Each of those lights is a world, just like yours and mine. They each have their own ponies, their own fields of grass, their own stars and moons, their own trees, everything. And they’re all connected here, to Equestria Prime.”

“So… those are Equestrias-I through… however many there are?” Twilight asked.

“In a way, though the nomenclature of ‘Equestria-I’ and the like is a bit of a misnomer. There is no such thing, truly, not within the greater representation of worlds - only five worlds actually share that manner of label, and Equestria III, II, and I are what the Chronomancers call ‘stable’ but what I consider ‘sterile’. That means they have no real essence to speak of, merely serving as a device to excuse the name your world and mine have been given within reality. You don’t even remember passing through them, do you?”

“We already noticed that,” Rarity noted. “Tick Tock gave us a reasonable explanation.”

“Within her terms, I’m sure she did. Truthfully, Equestria-III through I are no more important to the greater multiverse than a speed bump on some desert highway. At any rate, the number of worlds is endless, but the Chronomancers’ concept of designations is just one of many for how these worlds are categorized.” Silvertongue blinked once, and suddenly all of the stars were connected to one another by various threads of light. “It’s more complicated than that. Far more complicated. And disturbing. Do any of you know what Equestria Prime truly is?”

“The Chronomancer claimed it to be the ‘heart of reality’, father,” Starlight chimed in. “The center of the multitude of universes, I suspect?”

“That much is true, but do any of you know what it really is? The answer is surprisingly existential.” Silvertongue flicked his hoof, and the stars all vanished, except for one, which was connected to the floor. “This ball is your world.” He flicked his hoof again, and another ball of light appeared, also connected to the floor. “This isn’t your world, but it is incredibly similar to it. The difference in this world is that each pony in existence has the opposite gender and, in many cases, different-yet-similar names. I believe the male Twilight Sparkle is named ‘Dusk Shine’, for example.”

He flicked his hoof again and again, generating more balls of light, each connected to the floor as he listed off trivia about them.

“In this world, your Princess Celestia was the one who went mad, taking the moniker ‘Corona’ and being banished to the sun, leaving Luna as the princess in charge to nominate an entirely different six mares as the Elements of Harmony when Corona one day returned, much as Celestia had done for you.

“In this one, your world has fallen into a wasteland of radioactive fallout. The violence and horror there is comparable to some of the worst of my world’s northern continent, but is mostly all-encompassing. Their technological advances also took on a different spin entirely - it is mostly similar, but has a distinctly ‘dated’ or ‘scavenged’ aesthetic.

“In this one, Rainbow Dash never activated her ‘Sonic Rainboom’ when you were all young, leading to your talents being discovered differently and thus, you all adopting different Elements of Harmony when the time came. Applejack, for example, remained in Manehatten and became a comedian, and eventually adopted the Element of Laughter. It’s all very fascinating.”

“I’m not following any of this, are you?” Rainbow asked Applejack.

“Not one bit,” Applejack replied.

“Alternate universes,” Twilight explained. “It is a popular theory in some academic circles that our universe is just one of many, and considering what we’ve been through it seems like the theories are true.” She turned back to Silvertongue. “I’m just waiting to hear where you’re going with all this. I’ve heard enough villainous talk to know when somepony’s getting to the real nuts and bolts of their diabolical plan.”

“Astutely observed. The crux of all this is that despite all their similarities, there’s only one thing they all have in common: their connection to the Prime. Even my world shares a connection: Harmonia and Nihila are just alternate versions of Celestia and Luna, after all. The Prime represents the concept of what the Chronomancers call ‘Canon’ - it is fundamentally self-realized, and it is, itself, immalleable. The Prime Canon moves forward regardless of anything that happens to any of the infinite worlds connected to it, uncaring, unfeeling, unmoving.”

Twilight then glanced at Tick Tock. “Is that true? Then what’s the threat here?”

Tick Tock sneered. “He’s getting to it.”

“That I am. You see, while Prime Canon is unchanging from our perspective, the Prime itself is changing constantly, though it is approaching a point in time where even it will no longer change. Until then, every single change, no matter how small, no matter how insignificant, has effects on all of the worlds connected to it.”

He drew up another ball of light. “An example: this is my world. And, according to my own memories and those of the ponies who live there, there are two alicorn goddesses that once ruled it: Harmonia and Nihila. But this was not always the case. I’ve had the time to analyze the very building blocks of my world, and I discovered a fact that is both significant and trivial all the same: Nihila’s name was once Discordia. Isn’t that right, Chronomancer?”

Tick Tock snorted. “What of it?”

“I’m not sure I understand,” Twilight said.

“You could never hope to understand, and neither could the other countless creatures that live there, because you’ve never had the ability to see beyond the false appearances that reality has created to shield us from the truth of Prime’s influence over us all.” Silvertongue sneered. “Her name was once Discordia, that much is fact. I didn’t believe it myself, but the evidence is there, hidden deep, deep beneath endless layers of inscrutable energies created when our world was born. The Chronomancer’s confirmation is merely for your own benefit.”

“So what’s the big deal?” Havocwing asked. “Her name changed, so what?”

“Exactly: it is an insignificant change on the surface, but at its heart, the change fundamentally altered the essence of what is supposed to be one of the most powerful entities in existence, and she doesn’t even realize it. And the reason for this change was simple: in the Prime Canon, the creature you--” He pointed at Twilight “--call Discord came into being. His very existence in the Prime fundamentally changed the laws of my entire world in such an insignificant way that it’s almost insulting.”

“That sounds like something Discord would do,” Twilight noted.

“But he didn’t do anything,” Silvertongue retorted. “The chains that bind my world to the Prime unraveled and rewrote themselves to accommodate his existence for seemingly superficial reasons. And that’s not all.” He pointed to Twilight’s world. “In your world, Discord didn’t even exist until he did in the Prime Canon. And when he did, suddenly your entire reality rewrote itself, just like mine did, to make room for him. I’ve seen the inner essence of your reality, and know that when you originally came to my world, the ‘ticking clock’ that motivated your journey home was more relaxed from your perspective. Discord provided a more tangible threat for you and your friends to understand and compel you to hurry along.”

“That’s impossible. Discord’s an ancient being, he can’t have existed after us.”

“In the Prime, he did, for there was no inkling to his existence in the First Age of the Prime timeline. But his sudden appearance in the Prime Canon at the beginning of its Second Age had an effect on your world, as it did on mine, as it likely did on countless others. His very existence likely created entire new worlds, maybe destroyed others. And that’s just a significant change to the Prime.”

Silvertongue sneered as he drew other balls of light towards him. “Other, more minor events in Prime Canon had far-reaching impacts of sometimes drastic scales. Several worlds have been created, or altered, or even destroyed because of something as trifling or inane as a facial expression or an outfit.”

“That’s insane,” Twilight snorted. “You’re suggesting that reality changes because of every little thing that happens in Prime Canon, no matter how small?”

“That is precisely what I’m suggesting, and it is insane, is it not?” Silvertongue laughed. “Imagine a reality where the fundamental part of your character, your very essence, can change on the whim of something out of your control. I suppose you need concrete examples? Here’s one.” He pointed to Pinkie and Rainbow. “In Prime Canon, you two aren’t a romantic pair. You’re not even interested in one another in that fashion, and in fact there’s no concrete evidence that either of you have actual romantic interests in anypony at all.”

Pinkie and Rainbow glanced at one another. “What?” Rainbow asked.

“But… we’ve been together forever!” Pinkie said. “Ever since my birthday that I thought you all forgot…”

“Correct,” Silvertongue agreed. “But in Prime Canon, that was merely a solid instance of close friendship between two mares. Your version of reality interpreted it as a romantic gesture, and so wrote itself that way. You had no say in it, but your reality decided that that’s what was true, no matter how far-reaching, unbelievable, or unnecessary it was. And that’s, again, a rather significant example. There are other changes made with less significant justification. There exists a world where a pony known as ‘Lyra Heartstrings’ is obsessed with creatures called ‘humans’ because of the way she was sitting on a bench. It is ridiculous. It is insane. It is imperfect.”

“So you want to put a stop to it?” Twilight asked. “Let me guess, by destroying the Prime and making a new one?”

Tick Tock scoffed. “That’s all well and good, but you couldn’t do that even if you tried. Despite all your power, and even with my Timekeeper, you can’t affect Equestria Prime in any way. Just give it up, and go home. Nopony ever needs to know what happened here.”

Silvertongue smiled. “You’re correct, such a plan would be impossible. As I said, the Prime is immutable to creatures on this side of its reality, and even with all my power I have no possible way of affecting it, or crossing over into it that I might do so. Even altering all these other realities would take an infinite amount of time and power to change. For now, I will just begin adjusting the fundamentals of my own world before moving on to others. However, I must have a proof of concept before I attempt anything, so I’ll use your world,” he said looking back to Twilight, “to test my theories.”

He drew close the string that connected their world to the Prime, and it appeared as if the string was actually thousands of tiny strands woven together. “Each strand in the link represents an idea - be it a pony, a place, an object, an event, anything - from the Prime that connects to a counterpart concept in your world. The power it takes just to sever one strand is immense, certainly, but more than manageable for me. Let’s see what happens when we alter one, hmm? Let’s see, where to begin...”

Tick Tock’s eyes widened. “No!” She turned to the others. “Stop him, quick!”

Twilight and her friends nodded as one, and did everything they could to force their way through the wall - kicking it, blasting it with magic, and everything in between - and yet nothing worked. The wall seemed to shudder and shake, but it held true even under their assault.

Tick Tock turned to Starlight. “Why are you standing there like daft idiots?! Help!”

Starlight rubbed her chin. “At present, Chronomancer, I cannot discern any purpose for participating in attempts to stymie our father’s plan.”

Tick Tock blinked. “What?!”

“He’s trying to destroy our reality!” Rainbow snarled, getting in Starlight’s face. “Then he’s gonna do the same to yours!”

“He wants to make things better for you guys, though,” Havocwing said. “I mean… what’s wrong with what he’s doing? Making everything perfect sounds like a good thing, right?”

“Everything!” Tick Tock snapped. “Everything’s wrong with it! His idea of ‘perfect’ robs you of your free will, of your ability to feel, to choose! And he’s going to completely unravel and destroy countless lives to make it happen!”

Silvertongue smirked as he drew one strand out of the chain - an orange-and-gold line. “There we are, a sample that will be noticeable in immediate company. This strand here represents ‘Applejack’. Not just the mare, but the very idea of Applejack.”

Tick Tock shook her head. “Stop! Don’t do it!”

“Let’s see what happens when we disconnect it from the Prime.”

With a tug from his horn, he snapped the single strand on the link. Everypony braced themselves, especially Applejack.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then...

“Uh… girls?” Applejack muttered. “I don’t feel so good…”

Everypony’s attention was drawn to her. Applejack was slowly fading away into nothingness.

“Applejack?!” Twilight gasped.

And Applejack was gone.

Rarity fainted.

“No…” Fluttershy gulped. “No no no…”

“Bring her back!” Rainbow shouted, bashing her hooves against the invisible wall. “BRING HER BACK!”

“Alas,” Silvertongue said with a shrug, “she is no longer connected between your world and the Prime, and so by extension doesn’t exist in your reality, nor does anything connected or related directly to her. Sweet Apple Acres, gone. Her brother, gone. Sister, gone. Parents, grandparents, cousins, everything - gone. If it relied on her existence for its own existence, it has been effectively erased from reality.”

“Liar!” Twilight shouted. “You can bring her back!”

“That I can, but I have no reason to at the moment. Your own emotional outburst, incidentally, only exists because you still remember her. An effect of being here at the Prime during this exchange. Were you at home in your own world you wouldn’t have even noticed the change, because to you, nothing has changed, and you’ll forget her as soon as you return home. As you can see, even a minor alteration to the connections between the Prime and your world is far-reaching and dramatic.”

“No!” Twilight grit her teeth and blasted the wall with all her might she could muster. A tiny, tiny crack finally manifested itself. She tried another blast, and the crack got larger. “You monster!”

Tick Tock turned to Starlight’s sisters. “Do any of you have one shred of decency?! He just murdered Applejack in front of your eyes! He’s evil!”

“‘Murder’ isn’t strictly accurate,” Silvertongue huffed. “I again note that I did not kill Applejack, because your Applejack simply doesn’t exist. Your anger might seem justified now but when you return home you will have no reason to be angry.”

Starlight looked to Twilight’s frantic attempts to break Silvertongue’s barrier; she was losing energy, fast, and yet the wall was still standing firm. The cracks stopped getting larger. “I… but…”

“You are daft, aren’t you?” Tick Tock snarled. “You heard what he said: everything connected to Applejack is going to vanish. Everything.” She stared at Curaçao. “You had a chance to stop it. Applejack even told you all: he doesn’t care about you. You’re just a bloody tool to him. A way to prove his theory.”

“Why are you looking at me?” Curaçao asked. Tick Tock noticed that she was sweating.

“You’ve caught on, Chronomancer,” Silvertongue interjected. “Unless, of course, I was wrong in my assessment of how these connections functioned. It would be a shame if I was. All this wasted time, such a shame indeed.”

Grayscale interjected. “Wait… Curaçao is a clone of that Applejack. So… if Applejack never existed--”

“Then… then Curaçao would disappear too?” Havocwing finished. “No, pops wouldn’t--”

“What?! No! Not Curie!” insipid whined, grabbing Curaçao tight.

“Well, clearly papa’s theory isn’t working, oui?” Curaçao noted. She was breathing heavily and gritting her teeth, enough that the other mares could notice.

“Curaçao…” Velvet murmured. “You’re okay, right?”

“Je vais bien - perfectly fine,” Curaçao replied. Her eye twitched. “See, papa? Zis plan of yours… will not work…”

“Clearly,” Silvertongue hummed. “Unfortunate. My entire plan hinged on the fact that, since my daughters are intimately connected to Twilight and her friends despite being from entirely different worlds, that whatever affected Equestria-IV’s Applejack would affect Curaçao as well. I suppose this expedition was a ‘bust’, as they say.” He grinned. “Then again…”

“Pops, come on, bring Applejack back,” Havocwing interjected. “We don’t need to fight anypony, we can just go home.”

“If you want to make our world perfect, dad, we can help,” Grayscale interjected.

“Yeah, daddy!” Insipid squealed as she hugged Curaçao tight. She didn’t notice, but her hooves were slowly going through Curaçao’s body. “This isn’t working!”

Silvertongue smirked. “Are you so sure?”

Curaçao stared her father straight in the eyes. “Why… would you… do zis… to--”

She couldn’t fight it anymore, and vanished without a trace.

Insipid fell to the ground where Curaçao had been. She frantically looked about. “Curie? Curie?! Where are you?!”

“Curaçao?” Starlight murmured, also glancing about. “Sister?”

Tick Tock grunted. “Do you see, now?” She looked to the remaining five clones. “We tried to warn you.”

Havocwing started shaking violently in place, gritting her teeth so hard they threatened to crack in her mouth. She didn’t even raise her voice when she turned and addressed Silvertongue. “Why?”

“To achieve perfection, daughter, what else?” Silvertongue said, though he was not smiling. “I regret that I was correct, truly I do. I didn’t want to end her existence. But sacrifices must be made--”

“Shut up.” Havocwing came right up to the wall, her whole body trembling with rage. “I hate you. I hate you, so much. And I’m going to kill you.”

Silvertongue raised an eyebrow. “Are you now? A sudden jump to patricidal thoughts is quite interesting. It would seem as if I was correct in my assumption that your sisterly bond was growing beyond your attachment to me, your father. An unfortunate--”

Havocwing’s body started to heat up immensely, until she was white-hot with fury. She punched a flaming hoof against the barrier as hard as she could - a crack appeared. Another punch, another crack. She kept going, and going, and going.

Grayscale joined her, beating her wings to create a burst of gravitational force. The wall, though invisible, groaned as if bending. Velvet, too, rushed it, lashing at the wall with all the bloody spikes she could manage. The wall still held firm, but was slowly straining under the pressure.

“Hmm. Impressive.” Silvertongue filtered through the strands on the chain, pulling out another, this one a pale yellow tinged with pink. “Of course, Curaçao can turn invisible and is a talented actress, so it is possible she is attempting a bluff to get me to let down my guard, and to motivate you lot into helping your counterparts. She seemed to have become disillusioned with her role in my plan long before any of you even realized what it was.”

“Shut up!” Rainbow yelled, sweeping in beside Havocwing to blast the wall with lightning. “When we break through this wall, you’re going down!”

Fluttershy, seeing the familiar-looking strand, looked to her friends. “Oh no… girls, he--”

“Don’t worry, Flutershy, we won’t let him!” Pinkie shouted, pulling a cannon from thin air and blasting the cracked wall with explosive fireworks.

“It’s a trivial matter to continue stacking the deck in my favor,” Silvertongue said with a smile. “Curaçao, if she’s really gone, had a tremendous spirit and sense of self-worth, enough that she clearly resisted the effects. Lying to herself to prevent her own elimination is quite a utilization of talent, I must say. I doubt anypony else here has that kind of resolve, so let’s test this hypothesis further. It does no good to base a theory’s proof on only a single example.”

With another tilt of his horn, the strand snapped clean.

Fluttershy curled up on the ground. “Oh no--”

And she was gone.

“Fluttershy!” Twilight screamed.

Havocwing reared back for another blast, but midway through her charge, she vanished. The residual flames sizzled out before they even struck the wall.

Havocwing’s sisters cried in unison. “Havoc!”

“And there it is: solid evidence.” Silvertongue gave a triumphant laugh. “Proof! Proof that reality can be made into whatever I wish it to be! Perfection is now nothing more than a matter of patience and dedication. So, with that out of the way, it’s time I dealt with the rest of--”

Starlight Shadow let out a scream of pained anger. Her eyes flared a brilliant white. “No more!” With a flare of her horn, she blasted the wall with a tremendous bolt of energy. “You are no father of mine!”

The beam of inky black magical energy rippled against the wall, filling the cracks and dents with its essence.

“I trusted you! I loved you! And you used me! Used us!” The black energy strengthened. The cracks expanded outwards across the wall, and in greater force than ever. “I will destroy you!”

Silvertongue gave a light “hmph” and turned his attention back to the strands. “That barrier will hold long enough for me to eliminate additional threats. I wish it hadn’t come to this, daughter, I truly do, but--”

“Shut up!” Insipid spat. “You killed Curie!”

“And Havoc!” added Velvet.

“And Applejack!” Rainbow chimed in.

“And Fluttershy!” added Pinkie.

“We’re putting an end to this, right now!” Twilight shouted, standing beside Starlight and igniting her own horn.

She blasted the wall in the exact spot Starlight was, and the cataclysmic energies of their combined magic ripped a hole straight through it. Silvertongue calmly stepped aside to avoid the blast as it careened off into white nothingness.

Nopony needed to be told what to do next, racing through the hole as quickly as they were able. Silvertongue merely smiled. “Very well. Meet death face-first.”

“Meet this!” Rainbow shouted, swinging around him to kick him with a lightning-coated hoof. She moved faster than the sound of her own voice, already next to him before he even finished his sentence.

Silvertongue caught the kick with a tiny ounce of magic and, with a small tug on his horn, smashed Rainbow into the ground hard enough that everypony present heard the bones in her leg crack. Rainbow fell unconscious immediately from the pain.

“Dashie!” Pinkie cried.

“Impossible…” Tick Tock breathed as she watched. “How could he react so… fast…” She stared at Silvertongue’s chest - her Timekeeper was tucked neatly in his pocket, and it was glowing.

Velvet and Insipid were next through, the former lashing out with bloody tendrils while the later fired a beam of sickly green energy at Silvertongue. Silvertongue’s horn flashed, and Insipid’s burst ricocheted just inches from his face and blasted Velvet between the eyes. Velvet screamed in pain as the bolt drained her energy; her blood splattered on the floor without her to control it.

“Velvet!” Insipid gasped. “I’m sor--”

Silvertongue blasted her full force with a beam of magical energy. Twilight was barely able to reach her in time with a shield of her own energy, which shattered on impact and filled the area with a plume of electrical smoke.

Tick Tock shook her head. “They can’t beat him, not while he has--” She turned to Pinkie, who was just charging through. “Pinkie! My Timekeeper! Grab it!”

Pinkie turned, nodded, and zipped off into the fray, where she just seemed to disappear into the smokescreen.

Starlight and Grayscale passed through the hole in the barrier next, and directed everything they had at Silvertongue. He effortlessly resisted Grayscale’s attempts to crush him under his own weight while blocking Starlight’s blast with a shield of energy.

“You’re going to pay for what you’ve done!” Grayscale spat.

“So emotional, Grayscale,” Silvertongue chided. “You forget that you are at your strongest when you are calm and collected. I thought you all better than this. Perhaps my pride in you and your sisters was misplaced--”

“Keep silent!” snapped Starlight, channeling more energy into her blast.

Silvertongue slid half an inch backwards. He smiled. “Impressive.”

“I said--” Starlight unleashed the beam in an explosive force powerful enough to clear the smoke surrounding them. “--be silent!”

Silvertongue skidded several feet back this time. “Most impressive. A true force to be reckoned with. The power of a goddess in the body of a mare. Almost.” He dusted off his jacket with a wing. “I regret that I have to destroy you all to proceed with my plan, but I do not consider this sacrifice to be the end of our relationship, daughters. When I rebuild our world, there will be a place for you. With my power--”

“I have heard enough--” Starlight started.

Silvertongue flashed his horn briefly, striking Starlight with enough force to send her careening into the broken wall. She hit the floor, and did not get back up.

“If that’s all from the lot of you,” he continued with a smile, “then we can be done with these dull proceedings.” He reached into his pocket. His smile faltered, and he glanced at where the Timekeeper had been hanging. It was gone.

“Yoohoo!” Pinkie called, waving from the other side of the wall, where she’d delivered the watch to Tick Tock. “Looking for some--”

Silvertongue blasted Pinkie with a bolt of magic. She fell limp beside Tick Tock, breathing, but only just.

“Pinkie!” Twilight called.

“Hmm. No matter, I do not need it at this precise moment. I had only hoped to use it to hasten the process.” He ignited his horn, filling the air with bright, hot light. “I will take it back from your smoldering corpses, however, as it is essential to my handling of the Prime bindings.”

Tick Tock frantically popped the Timekeeper open. “Twilight! Keep me covered while I get this working!”

“On it!” Twilight called. She rushed over to Tick Tock and erected a barrier. Grayscale and Insipid grabbed Velvet, Rainbow, Rarity, and Starlight to get behind her. The latter four were unconscious, but still breathing. Barely.

As the energy reached the edge of Twilight’s force field, Twilight hissed in pain; steam issued from where the light touched the barrier, driving it back. “Hurry, Tick Tock!” she shouted. “I can’t hold this for long!”

“Working as fast as I can!” Tick Tock replied as she fiddled with knobs and gears. “The emergency protocols are under multiple protective failsafes to prevent--”

“We don’t need an explanation!” Grayscale snapped. “Is it going to help us get our sisters back?”

Tick Tock looked at Grayscale, dead serious. “If I can get it off, it will. I promise.”

“Good.” Grayscale stood tall. “I’ll help buy you time.”

Grayscale flared her wings, generating a wall of gravitational force in front of her. She strode out in front of Twilight. Twilight noticed. “Grayscale? Get behind me, this isn’t--”

“Keep your shield up, Twilight,” Grayscale said. “I’ll give you some breathing room to regenerate it. All of you--” She turned to the ponies behind Twilight. “--stay back.”

“What are you-- no, wait!”

Grayscale stepped through Twilight’s force field, and the gravitational force repelled the light of Silvertongue’s spell. She moved towards him, step by step, inch by inch, pushing the light back.

“Grayscale, this is a surprise. Calmed down, have we?” Silvertongue chided. “Come to accept your death, then? You know you’re not going to survive this.”

“Yes. But it doesn’t matter. As long as we win, nothing else matters.” Grayscale continued forward. The light grew stronger, pushing back against her. “Nothing. Else. Matters.”

“No. I suppose it doesn’t.”

Silvertongue flourished his wings, and intensified the light. Within seconds, it was crushing down on Grayscale and pushing through the gravity well she’d created. She did not react as the light pushed through and seared the tips of her wings and burned her mane.

“Grayscale!” Insipid called. “Come back!”

Grayscale ignored her and kept pushing forward.

Twilight stared as Grayscale slowly lost the battle. “Insipid,” she murmured, “I need your help. My barrier can’t repel him on its own. Can you help me?”

Insipid looked to Twilight, then to Grayscale. “But… I have to help--”

“Grayscale knows what she’s doing. You have to help me with my barrier, or your other sisters are in danger. Can you help me?”

Insipid looked to Twilight, then back to Grayscale. She gulped, and nodded, a tear in her eye. “For sure…”

She touched Rarity’s unconscious body and absorbed her power, then channeled it into Twilight. She closed her eyes as Grayscale pushed forward. She did not watch as Grayscale was consumed by the light. Grayscale gave no cries of agony, or fear. She faced her death with dignity.

The light now pressed against Twilight’s shield again, stronger than before. But, with Insipid’s help, she was able to push back enough to keep it stable. “How’s it coming, Tick Tock?!”

Tick Tock huffed. “Almost there. Just a few more seconds.”

“We don’t have--”

Silvertongue flared more power through the spell. The shield cracked, and Twilight hissed again as the pain flowed into her own body; Insipid followed suit, connected to Twilight’s spell and therefore to the effects Silvertongue’s magic was having on it.

“Tick Tock!”

The shield sputtered and faltered. Twilight and Insipid lost several feet of ground. The searing light was inches from their faces.

“This is it,” Tick Tock muttered as she twisted one last knob. “Here we go.”

“Tick Tock! Do some--” The light enveloped Twilight and Insipid fully. Death was instantaneous.

Tick Tock clicked the Timekeeper’s button just as the light was reaching her. It glowed bright green for a split second, then--

***

A portal tore itself open with the sound of a thousand crashing waves, letting loose a torrent of mares to fall to the ground beneath in a groaning heap.

Rainbow was the first to speak. “That… was a lot different than the last time. I feel funny, anyone else feel funny?”

Havocwing spoke up from beneath her. “I feel funny that you’ve got your fat ass in my face! Get off!”

“Who’re you calling ‘fat’, chump?!”

“I think I landed on somepony’s horn!” Velvet declared.

“Yes, that’s mine, dear,” Rarity replied.

“Cool, hey, can you move like two inches down--”

“Ugh!”

The thirteen mares quickly gathered themselves up and observed their surroundings. It was, at one point, the most beautiful city in Equestria: Canterlot. With its gleaming white buildings and tall spires, the city was supposed to be a beacon to all pony kind, a symbol of the elite, of royalty, and of elegance.

Now, it was… not. The gleaming white spires were slowly melting candles that smelled vaguely of vanilla. The well-paved streets were made of rubber, and ponies nearby bounced along the streets rather than walked, and were none too happy about it. The sky was neon green, the sun was no longer a waffle but a soccer ball that rolled along the horizon - it was currently stuck in between two hills.

“Great, Star botched the portal and we got whisked away to Wacky Land,” Velvet grumbled.

Starlight stared at the scene, her eye twitching. “The spell was executed without error of any kind, Velvet. This… this is our destination, Sparkle? This is your world?”

Twilight shook her head. “It is… but we’re too late. Discord’s loose.”

“So, Discord is a distraction,” Rarity muttered. “What a despicable fellow.”

“Who’s Discord, anyhow?” asked Grayscale.

“The local manifestation of chaos,” Twilight answered. “Basically, a god, not unlike your world’s Nihila. We need to stop him, and quick, before--” She turned to Tick Tock, and gasped. Tick Tock’s mane had grown several inches, and Twilight was certain that she was just a fraction of an inch taller. “Tick Tock? What happened to you?”

Tick Tock stepped away from the others and cracked her neck. “Okay everypony, gather around. I’ll make this brief, since I’ve had this conversation with you all fifty-two thousand, five hundred and fifty-nine times already, and I’ve gotten bloody well used to it by now, so this’ll be quick, I promise.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What the hay are you talking--”

“Let me speak, Twilight, please. I’ll explain everything.” Tick Tock cleared her throat. “So! Here’s the breakdown, everypony: in the next ten or twenty minutes, we are going to follow after Silvertongue to Equestria Prime, and we are going to lose. I know this because we’ve lost every single bloody time we’ve faced him so far, so I’m hoping that this time is the one where we win. I say that every time, but I still maintain hope.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Rainbow interjected. “You--”

Tick Tock continued talking over Rainbow. “During the coming fight, several of you are killed. I’ve tried literally tens of thousands of different plans of attack, but each of them fails. Silvertongue is too powerful, too careful, he has my Timekeeper to his advantage at first, and he’s planned for too many scenarios for us to win in a direct assault, so--”

“Back up!” Havocwing snapped. “You’re going too fast. Some of us die? Who? What? Why?”

“Also, huh?” added Velvet. “You lost me, greenie.”

“You’ve lost all of us at this point,” Twilight agreed. “Am I understanding that you’ve seen the future?”

“Technically, but that’s not important at the moment,” Tick Tock answered. “Every scenario I’ve attempted has been different, but I have personally witnessed the deaths and total existence erasures of each and every one of you thousands of times over. He’s predicted every possible avenue of attack from every angle and every combination of factors. The only, and I repeat only reason we’re having this conversation is by a sheer factor of luck: Silvertongue considers me such an insignificant threat that he never targets me.”

“Okay, hold on. How do you know all this?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah, since when could you see into the future?” Havocwing added.

“My Timekeeper has a failsafe protocol in it in the case of reality-threatening emergencies,” Tick Tock explained. “It reverses time by exactly one hour for the entirety of reality, except for my awareness of events and my physical aging process, and thus I can attempt to alter the outcome. The latter is an unfortunate side effect of the spell with no practical applications in this context.”

“Whoa, cool, like time travel?” Rainbow asked.

“See, I told you this story involved time travel, Dashie,” Pinkie scoffed. “Alllll the way back in Chapter One, even. Did we make a bet on it? ‘Cause if we did, somepony owes me some bits.”

“No, it’s not time travel, time travel is impossible.” As Pinkie made to interrupt, Tick Tock took a deep breath. “Time works like an analog clock - it winds forward and backward, you can’t just jump to a certain point in time. So - and I stress that I’ve answered this question over fifty thousand times - I am not traveling back in time, I am winding time back one hour and reliving it, over and over.”

“Hold on, that can’t be right. I’ve used time travel spells before,” Twilight noted. “I met my future self and everything, even tried to pass along a warning.”

Tick Tock nodded. “Not time travel. Timeline travel - you merely traveled to an earlier point in a timeline separate from your own. Not the same thing. Think about it logically: if you travel to the past, that past becomes your future, and your former present becomes the past, which can't be changed by your new future.”

“You just said a whole lotta words that made no sense,” Rainbow muttered.

“That’s time travel for you.” Tick Tock pointed to Twilight. “Essentially, the reason your ‘time travel’ attempt failed was because you didn’t actually warn yourself about the future, you warned a Twilight from an alternate timeline, who simply performed the same actions because a Twilight from another timeline warned you, and so on.”

“Huh. Well, you’re the expert on Chronomancy, I’ll defer to your knowledge on the matter. So, you say that you’ve relived the last hour fifty-two thousand, five hundred and fifty-nine times?” Twilight asked. She calculated it in her head. “That’s--”

“Precisely six years, give or take a few minutes.” She pointed at Pinkie, who raised her hoof. “Yes, that means I’m six years older than when we started, hence the longer mane. Haven’t bothered to cut it, it’s not important.” She then pointed to Velvet. “And no, thankfully sleeping and eating and other biological needs aren’t carried over, thank goodness. Can you imagine if I had to take a nap?”

Starlight cleared her throat. “This elucidation on the mechanics of manipulating chronological functions, while fascinating, is irrelevant. You will pardon me if I have doubts about the validity of these claims of yours--”

Tick Tock turned to Curaçao instantly. “You believe me. You always do.”

Curaçao narrowed her eyes for a brief second, then nodded. “Oui. I believe you.”

“Huh? Curaçao?” Havocwing questioned. “What are you talking about? You believe all that horseshit?”

“I can tell when a pony is lying, being manipulative, or ozerwise ‘iding zee truz from me,” Curaçao explained. “She is not as skilled as papa at ze are. Elle est honnête.”

“That’s all I needed to hear,” Grayscale said. “What’s the plan this time then?”

“Whoa whoa whoa, back up,” Havocwing interjected. “You guys are gonna believe that pops is just gonna go all murder-happy on us? Just like that, sis? What if--”

“No ‘what if’, ‘avoc,” Curaçao said. “She is being truzful. I ‘ave no reason to doubt ‘er… and I am not surprised by zis information eizer. C'est le seul résultat logique - ze only logical outcome of papa’s plans....”

“I cannot comprehend any rational reason for our father to commit filicide,” Starlight said, leveling a glare at Curaçao. “You will explain how you reached this outcome.”

“C’est simple: papa wants to build un monde parfait - a perfect world. ‘Oo is more imperfect zan us?”

“We are his children, sister--”

“And ‘e ‘as devoted ‘is life to zee goal of perfection for ‘undreds of years. ‘E will not abandon it just because we consider ‘im our papa. Il est regrettable, but it is ze truz of ze matter.”

“You have to admit, Star, dad did kind of toss us aside as soon as we helped him absorb Nihila,” Grayscale added. “Once he had that power, what use for us does he have? Does he even seem like the ‘doting father’ type?”

Havocwing tapped her chin. “Well, I mean… I wouldn’t get him like a ‘#1 Dad’ mug for his birthday or anything…”

Velvet was quick to agree: “Yeah, I mean… remember back when we came back after our first big fight with these guys? He kinda went all trigger happy on me. I mean, I understand that sometimes parents punish their kids but like… not fry them with electricity.”

Starlight hummed. “I want to argue that your assertion is merely the beginning of a slippery slope fallacy, but… it possesses merit. I myself believed it within my authority to inflict punishments upon you, but after father revealed our nature to us, that impulse vanished.” She shook her head. “But what circumstances would compel father to resort to such actions?”

Applejack stepped forward. “‘Cause he ain’t really yer father, and y’all know that. Don’t ya? He made you, but y’all’re just tools ta him. Whatever feelin’ he might say he has for all o’ ya ain’t real love. After everythin’ I’ve learned from bein’ with y’all, knowin’ that Silvertongue’s the ‘father’ ya kept goin’ on about, I’ve been lookin’ forward ta givin’ him a piece o’ my mind.”

Curaçao nodded. “We might be ‘is creations, sister… but we are not ‘is children. Not really.”

Starlight pondered this, then sighed and nodded her head. “I am unsure if this is the proper course of action, but… I suppose if you believe this story, Curaçao, I will follow your judgement. You have always been more capable than I in understanding father’s motivations.”

“So, we’re all the same page then, everypony?” Tick Tock asked. The mares looked to one another and muttered among themselves, then gave Tick Tock nods of agreement. “Good. Here’s the plan: Discord.”

Twilight gasped. “That’s right! We have to stop Discord! He’s--”

“--our best chance to stop Silvertongue,” Tick Tock completed.

Twilight and her friends all looked at Tick Tock like she’d just said something offensive, insane, or possibly both. “Huh?” they said in unison.

“The past four hundred and seventy-one attempts have all been made using Discord as a linchpin, as it were. I began to notice a pattern, or rather a lack of one, in dealing with him every time we arrive in your world: as a being of pure Chaos, he is, to put it simply, unpredictable. Silvertongue easily won every encounter before I began attempting to recruit Discord, and I figured it was because he had planned for every possible outcome.”

“Then how is Discord going to help?” asked Twilight.

“As I said: he is unpredictable. To my consternation, Silvertongue bloody well anticipated that we’d recruit Discord, too - something about how ‘the magic of friendship’ is such a defining feature of your world. But, each and every time Discord has helped us, Silvertongue was unable to anticipate our every action, and that allowed some maneuvers to slip through.”

“And yet here we are,” Havocwing noted.

“True, it hasn’t won us a fight yet, but there have been a few close attempts…” Tick Tock sighed. “I consider any attempt made where one of you dies to be a failed attempt, so I don’t know if Discord’s help would result in a true ‘win’ yet, but I’ve kept trying, and I’ve been getting closer every time.”

Rainbow stomped her hoof. “Okay, so we recruit dopy ol’ Discord to our side. How?”

“That’s actually the hardest part. Again, he’s unpredictable. Sometimes he agrees, sometimes he doesn’t, even if all of the circumstances are exactly the same down to the second, down to every last word, down to where everypony is standing. He chooses completely at random. We always get him to ally with us in the end, sometimes via force--” Tick Tock gave Havocwing a lingering look “--but Discord as an ally is preferable to Discord as an enemy, regardless of the circumstances.”

“Well that’s just great. Some reliable plan that is!”

“It’s better than just fighting him, then going up against Silvertongue and watching everypony die,” Tick Tock added bluntly. “If I had any other options, I’d take them, but this is it. Believe me, I’ve tried the alternative many, many times.”

Everypony remained silent in thought for a moment. Then Twilight spoke: “Well then, let’s get going. If we’re going to recruit Discord, we’d best not keep him waiting.”

Everypony nodded in agreement, and they set off for Canterlot Square.

***

Discord skated along the chalkboard-like material that the ground of Canterlot Square now consisted of, using a pair of sizeable pieces of chalk to do so. The rest of Canterlot Square was in varying states of bizarre: The central fountain was pouring liquid cheese into the pool below - Discord skated by to dip a hunk of bread into it; the surrounding buildings were drawn with thick crayon lines and basic primary colors. Ponies had long since cleared out, so all that was left was Discord and his fun.

Thirteen mares came running down the street into the Square. “Discord!” shouted one. Discord recognized it as Twilight Sparkle.

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” Discord gloated as he skidded to a stop. He snapped his fingers. A golden throne appeared, and he took a seat before eyeing the group. “And you brought new friends. Wonderful. This should be entertaining.”

Twilight stepped aside and gestured to Starlight and her sisters. “These are our new… uh--” She turned to Tick Tock. “Did we ever become friends with Starlight and her sisters in any attempt?”

Tick Tock smirked. “Most of them, actually.”

“Our new friends!”

Havocwing, ever the attempted leader, stepped forward. “Okay, so, I’m--”

Discord was suddenly right next to her, sizing her up. “Hmmm. No. Don’t like the whole ‘red and black OC’ look. Too edgy for me.” He snapped his fingers, and Havocwing was now dressed in a frilly pink tutu and ballerina shoes. “Hmmm… better. Better. Continue.”

Havocwing’s sisters winced. “That’s not good,” Velvet muttered to Grayscale. “Havoc hates pink. And dresses. Especially pink dresses.”

“Guess we beat Discord into helping us this time around,” Grayscale whispered back. “You ready?”

Havocwing took several deep, long breaths, trembling with anger. She grit her teeth and seethed, her raging anger searing the tutu and shoes right off her body.

Discord took a hasty step back, not from fear but mere surprise. “Ooh, that’s one spicy meat-a-ball. Not bad, kiddo, not bad. You’re just an angry little rage-filled firecracker, aren’t you? Intense. Go on, continue with the introductions.”

Havocwing, to the surprise of everypony present, kept her cool enough not to leap up and lay into Discord. She spoke through gritted teeth, clearly barely constraining herself. “I’m Havocwing. And these are my sisters--”

“Sisters? I love family get-togethers!” Discord quickly duplicated into five of himself to hold separate conversations with the other five mares.

“Oh I just love your mane,” one Discord said to Insipid, batting Insipid’s gaudy blonde curls. “You absolutely must give me your stylist’s name. I could use a new coat of paint for the palace when I’m done with it, and this color of yours just inspires me.”

“Thanks!” Insipid chirped. “I’m Insipid by the way!”

“Oh, you most certainly are.”

“I’m digging the glam rock look,” another Discord said to Grayscale. “Do you sing? Dance? Play an instrument?”

“I don’t do… singing and dancing, and I don’t play any instruments,” Grayscale muttered, eyes narrowed. “I’m Grayscale Force.”

“Anypony ever tell you you’re built like a small house? You’ve got that whole ‘amazon’ thing going for ya. I hear some stallions are really into that, if you care.”

“Y’know, you remind me of somepony,” a third Discord said to Velvet.

“Yeah, that’d be her.” Velvet pointed to Pinkie, who gave a little wave. “I’m Red Velvet.”

“Hmm. Cupcakes reference? Kind of roundabout, though. Also a little dated even when this story was new, don’t you think? Did anyone actually enjoy that story? I mean, outside of some sort of morbid curiosity, like walking past a train wreck.”

“Your name is ‘Starlight Shadow’?” the fourth Discord said to Starlight. “You know that’s kind of derivative, right?”

“I’m afraid I do not comprehend your implication,” Starlight stated. “Elucidate.”

“Well I mean, we meet Sarlight Glimmer in a couple of seasons, and before that there’s Sunset Shimmer in the spinoff. I think Trixie over there counts on a technicality, too. How many anti-Twilights-that-redeem-themselves are there, do you think? I mean, they don’t sound like you though. Was your mother a thesaurus?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak whatever that was,” the fifth Discord stated matter-of-factly to Curaçao. “Do. You. Speak. English? Or… Equine, or whatever we’re calling this language we’re speaking.”

Curaçao just stared at Discord. She glanced at her sisters, then back to him. “Merveilleux.”

“Wunderbar to you too.”

Tick Tock interjected. “And I’m Tick Tock. A pleasure.”

Discord’s copies all merged together to give her a good look-over. He offered her his paw. She took it, and they shook. “Charmed. I--” He stopped, withdrew his paw and stared at it, then shook his head to rearrange his thoughts. “Wait, sorry. Forgot, you’re all supposed to be trying to stop me. Well, let’s cut to the chase--”

“We’re not here to stop you Discord,” Twilight stated.

Discord gave her a long, confused look. “You’re... not? Why?”

“We’re here to ask for your help, actually.”

“Now you’re just pulling my leg,” Discord scoffed, yanking off a leg and handing it over to Twilight. Twilight balked at it and dropped it to the ground, disgusted.

“Did you meet an alicorn stallion named Silvertongue recently?” Grayscale asked. “Tall, silver coat, gold mane, one eye glowing like the sun? Probably wearing really nice clothes.”

Discord stroked his beard, then snapped his fingers. “Ah, right, the Trekkie. I’m surprised he didn’t ask for an autograph. I usually have to fight off the fans with a stick. This must be what Seven-of-Nine felt like. Though I guess I get that more these days going to other conventions. The periphery demographic is pretty big”

“Here’s the deal, Discord,” Tick Tock continued. “We’re more concerned with him than we are with you, and you’re the only creature powerful enough to help us stop him. Hence this ceasefire proposal.”

“Now why would I do something like that?”

“Because if you don’t, he’s planning to rewrite reality so that it’s perfectly ordered and peaceful because he doesn’t like Chaos.”

Discord gasped, paw to his heart. “No! Say it ain’t so!”

“I’m completely serious. If he succeeds, you can be sure that you’re one of the first things he’s getting rid of.”

Discord tapped his chin. “So how, exactly, do you propose I help? I’m no fool - I could feel the magic that guy radiated just by being in the same room as him. Puts Celestia to shame. Now, granted, if I wanted to, I could take Celestia on head-to-head if she didn’t have the Elements of Harmony, but he doesn’t seem the sort to need them. I feel sheepish admitting he feels out of my league.”

“It’s because he’s filled to the brim with alicorn magic from both sides of the spectrum - Good and Evil, Law and Chaos, Light and Dark, whatever duality you believe is dominant. He’s powerful enough to handle us even at our best, I’m afraid.”

“That’s the gist of why we need you,” Twilight added. “We need the Elements of Harmony back to rise up to him, and your Chaos too. Together, we stand a chance!”

Discord twiddled his thumbs. “Hmmm... let’s say I were to give you back the Elements of Harmony. When we’re done, do I have your assurance that you won’t use them on me?”

Twilight was about to speak, when Tick Tock interrupted. “Twilight and her friends will absolutely use them to reseal you when we return.” At everypony’s shocked, indignant looks, she added. “However, if you can help us, then perhaps when we return you might decide not to act in such a way that that such an action would even be necessary. Catch my drift?”

Discord stared long and hard at Tick Tock, then chuckled. “You. I like you. Blunt, to the point, a real straight shooter.”

“I’ve dealt with situations just like this enough times to have a pretty good idea how to handle them,” she replied with a grin.

“Very well. Deal.” Discord snapped his fingers, and six cages carrying the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony - Trixie, Lyra, Raindrops, Carrot Top, Cheerilee, and Derpy - appeared. The cages dumped the captive mares to the ground, and Discord snapped his fingers again - the Elements of Harmony disappeared from the six mares and reappeared on Twilight and her friends. As soon as they did, the other mares’ colors returned to normal and they started to stir.

“Your replacements didn’t put up the same fight you all did the first time we met, by the way,” Discord noted. “They just weren’t as fun to break. Kind of boring, actually. ”

“Our… replacements?” Rainbow asked.

“Long story, doesn’t matter now,” Tick Tock interjected. She turned to Discord. “And…?”

“‘And’ what?” Discord asked.

“I believe you’re forgetting somepony.”

Discord paused, then nodded. “Right, of course! Silly me.” He snapped his fingers again. Time Turner fell into the mustard fountain. He turned to Tick Tock. “How’d you know about that guy?”

“He’s a friend of mine, and it was his idea to find those replacements in the first place.”

“What the hay is goin’ on here?” Applejack asked, pointing at the stirring new mares. “I know ya said it don’t matter, but I’d really like ta know--”

“Time Turner found six ponies that under different circumstances could fill in as the Elements of Harmony. Discord beat them easily, because they lacked your cohesion as a unit due to your strong friendship,” Tick Tock explained.

“You know an awful lot for somepony I’ve just met, Miss Tock,” Discord noted with a curious glance. “Should I be worried you know too much?”

“About that? No, I’m no threat to you in any capacity. About our mission, though? Yes, absolutely, if you’re going to help us deal with Silvertongue. He’s exceedingly dangerous.”

Discord held up both paws. “Hold your horses now, I never said I’m going with you.”

Tick Tock raised an eyebrow. “Huh? You agreed--”

“To help, yes, that I did. But I’m not going to get myself killed trying to make this plan of yours work, oh no. I know a suicide run if I’ve ever seen one before.” He drew his finger along his neck, and his head fell to the ground. “And your plan reeks of suicide, so, no thanks.”

“You coward!” Rainbow snorted. “You said you’d help! Don’t be such a baby - we’re all ready to go into this!”

Fluttershy, of all ponies, nodded in agreement. “We have to do this, Discord. Please don’t back out on us now…”

Discord laughed as his body picked up his head and reattached it. “Don’t worry, everypony, don’t worry, I’m still going to help.” He turned to Starlight and her sisters with a grin. “I can smell chaos a mile away, and your new friends are just loaded with the stuff. I could smell it a mile away.”

Havocwing puffed out her chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Insipid lifted her foreleg up to smell underneath. “Cha. I, like, don’t smell anything?”

“Well, if Twilight and company think the Elements of Harmony are enough to help stand up to this Silvertongue fellow, then why not double dip and hit him with some Elements of… hmmm....” He pondered it for a moment. “Disharmony… nah, sounds forced. Chaos… no, too easy. Discord… eh, too narcissistic on my part. Anarchy? Disorder? Madness?”

Starlight cleared her throat. “If I may offer a suggestion?”

“Shoot.”

“How about the ‘Elements of Pandemonium’.”

Havocwing brightened. “Pandemonium? Like our hometown?”

“The name is a fairly accurate synonym for ‘chaos’ or ‘disorder’, hence the city’s appalation, being the foremost point of power for Nihila.”

Discord’s eyes widened with glee. “Elements of Pandemonium, perfect! Just perfect. Doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, but has a lovely ring to it. Completely original too, might I add, at least as far as I can tell - I’m not going to read every fanfic. Most opt for something simpler.” He snapped his fingers. “Done.”

Nothing seemed to happen.

“What gives?” Grayscale said.

“Oh, what, you expect them to just ‘appear’ on you?” He pointed at Twilight and her friends. “They had to go through a spirit quest of sorts to get those things figured out, took most of the latter half of a two-parter episode to do it. Figure it yourself. I’m a god of chaos, not a self-help seminar.” He turned to some unseen audience. “How’s that for a Trek reference?”

Tick Tock sighed. “We don’t have time-- Fine. Fine! We’ll figure it out as we go, not like we’re not used to doing that every bloody time.” She turned to the others. “If it doesn’t work… well, I’ll try again.”

“Wow. Great motivational speech there, Tick Tock,” Rainbow scoffed.

“Eh. Kinda got tired of doing them after a few dozen times.” Tick Tock shrugged and turned to Starlight. “Ready to go, everypony?”

Starlight nodded. “Affirmative.” She lit up her horn, and the thirteen mares disappeared into a portal of swirling, inky darkness.

Discord tapped his chin. “Y’know, I got the strangest feeling of déjà vu when talking with those ponies.” He turned to the mares that were just now waking up. “So. It’s early, and I’m hungry. Anypony up for breakfast?”

***

When the final portal opened, the gaggle of mares tumbled quietly and softly out into a vast, empty expanse of white. The portal closed behind them as soon as it had appeared.

Tick Tock was the first to rise to her hooves. She took a deep breath and turned to the others. “Welcome to Equestria Prime, everypony. Yes, it’s lonely, and white, and no it’s not what you expected, but here we are.”

Twilight looked around. “Where’s Silvertongue?”

“It won’t take long to find him, trust me.” Tick Tock turned to Starlight and her sisters. “Think you lot got those Elements figured out? We’ve probably only got one shot at this attempt.”

Starlight turned to her sisters, and they all nodded. “We possess some inkling of what might be appropriate, based on our knowledge of the Elements of Harmony. If we are as antithetical as we believe… well, we’ll make an attempt, at any rate. Though the mechanics of their use still confounds me.”

“Good enough.” Tick Tock closed her eyes, worked out a kink in her neck and took a deep breath.

In an instant, Silvertongue was just a few dozen feet in front of them.

Silvertongue turned his attention away from a ball of black, inky substance he was examining to face the mares. “Ah, there you are. A few minutes later than expected, however. I take it Discord was more of a distraction than I had hoped?”

“Indeed he was,” Tick Tock noted. “Though not to a point I think you’d find beneficial to you.”

Silvertongue eyed the Elements of Harmony decorating Twilight and her friends. “I see you recovered your Elements of Harmony. An interesting turn of events, but not otherwise unaccounted for.” He turned to Starlight and her sisters. “Daughters.”

“Father,” Starlight said, unemotional.

“We’re putting a stop to this plan of yours right now, Silvertongue,” Twilight said. She looked to her friends. “Ready girls?”

“Ready!” the others replied in unison.

“Ah, cutting right to the chase,” Silvertongue mused. “Interesting. I suppose the Chronomancer figured out the plan and ‘spilled the beans’, robbing me of my triumphant explanation. No matter--”

“Shut up!” Rainbow spat.

“We’re doing this so you don’t get to monologue!” Pinkie added.

“Y’all’re goin’ down,” Applejack added.

The Elements of Harmony glowed bright, and with a great burst of force, a rainbow-colored cascade of light fired forth at Silvertongue. First, it impacted the barrier he had erected, but the barrier did not last more than a few seconds before the blast pierced through. Silvertongue didn’t even bother moving, letting the blast strike him straight on. He was engulfed in prismatic light, and for a moment everypony was blinded by the radiance.

Seconds passed, and the blindness wore off. Silvertongue still stood where he had before, looking hale and hearty as ever. The only difference was that his coat and mane were brighter, and his attire had become glorious and white, devoid of any hint of darkness.

“Oh no…” Fluttershy peeped.

Rarity stepped back. “Twilight, did we do something wrong? He’s, um… he’s still standing, dear.”

Twilight gawked. “How is this possible? Nothing’s ever stood up against the Elements before.”

“I had the powers of two omnipotent alicorns flowing through me, Twilight Sparkle,” Silvertongue gloated. He flared his horn a brilliant white, and Twilight and her friends were knocked aside by unseen magical energy, alive but weakened. “One of pure darkness, the other of pure light. Your Elements of Harmony only weakened me by half at best by neutralizing Nihila’s essence, but I still have Harmonia’s power as well as my own. Certainly more than enough to deal with you.”

He pulled a single ball of light from the inky darkness he’d been examining, then turned to look at Tick Tock. “Now, Chronomancer, since you so rudely interrupted me, perhaps you’d be so kind as to sit still and allow for a demonstration of my grand plan? I assure you, you’ll find it quite enthralling. You’re the only one that can truly appreciate it..”

“No, father,” Starlight declared, stomping her hoof. “There will be no demonstrations today.”

Silvertongue eyed Starlight curiously. “Daughter? Why do you protest? Surely you--” He stopped, and turned towards Tick Tock with an appreciative smirk. “I see you figured out that much of the plan as well. You are an astute one, Chronomancer, I will give you that. But this, too, not an unexpected turn of events. I know all about Twilight and her friends and their ‘magic of friendship’.” He turned back to Starlight and her sisters. “Dearest daughters--”

“Cut the crap, pops,” Havocwing spat. “We know what your demonstration’s gonna do, and we’re not having any of that shit. You want to go through with all this? You’re gonna have to go through us.”

“Yeah!” Velvet added.

“Totally!” Insipid chimed in.

“Oui,” Curaçao said.

“Indeed,” added Starlight.

Grayscale merely nodded.

Silvertongue paused. “So, you all wish to stand against me? I gave you life, I gave you power, and this is how you repay me for my generosity? Betrayal? Siding with your originals out of some misguided attempt to connect with them?”

“You created us in a laboratory,” Starlight replied. “You did so entirely with the intention of utilizing our abilities and essences to accomplish your own goals, with no concern for our own individuality and livelihood. We are no more than implements to you in your grand scheme of perfection.”

“Is that truly what you believe, Starlight? My favorite daughter?” Silvertongue gave her a disappointed scowl. “I had such high hopes for you, my dear. It would be a pity to see that potential go to waste. If you stand against me, you can never have what you truly desire: a place by my side, to be loved and adored in every definition those words entail.”

Starlight grit her teeth. “Those feelings I once had… they were the fantastical daydreams of a filly whose only concerns were with herself and her own egotistical desires.” She turned to her sisters. “I have grown beyond such frivolous, base emotions. You have no control over me anymore, Silvertongue. Nor do you over my sisters.”

“Yeah!” Havocwing exclaimed. “We’re our own mares!”

“With our own, like, wants and junk!” Insipid added.

“Our lives belong to us,” Grayscale siad. “Not to you.”

“I see. Hmmm, this poses an interesting situation. Since the Chronomancer was so keen to inform you of the plan, I will assume that no demonstrations are necessary - my theories are correct, and thus my plan will work.” He stood up straight and look over the six of them with a stern gaze. “If you stand down now, you will be unharmed. Allow me to continue my work, and you will have a place on my new, perfect world. I do not wish to harm you, daughters. Listen to your father.”

“You are not our father,” Starlight snorted. “Not anymore.”

“I am gravely disappointed in you all. I hadn’t wished to harm any of you,” Silvertongue sighed. “So be it. Unfortunately for you, my disobedient progeny, I accounted for this eventuality. It is why Harmonia’s essence, whether with her as an ally or without, was so essential. Without my spell of binding, even you, Starlight, do not have enough power to match me.”

“Shut up already!” Havocwing snapped. She turned to the others. “Ready girls?”

The others replied, “Ready!” And they got in formation, as Twilight and friends had done.

They focused all of their might on calling the Elements of Pandemonium to them.

Nothing happened.

Silvertongue stared in wonder. “What, exactly, are you all attempting to accomplish? Is this an attempt to intimidate me? Your performance leaves much to be desired. Though that formation seems familiar...”

Insipid looked to her sisters. “Like, they’re not working!”

“No duh!” Velvet chided. “We didn’t figure them out yet!”

“This was a bad idea, Havoc,” Grayscale muttered.

Havocwing scoffed. “No way… we’ll… we’ll figure it out.”

“Well, figure it out fast!” Velvet blurted, pointing at Silvertongue, who was lighting his horn.

“Twilight and her friends are no longer a threat to me,” Silvertongue said. “Their Elements of Harmony will not affect Harmonia’s essence, and on their own or even together they cannot hope to match my power. But if you insist on joining them in objection to my plans, then you can join them in defeat.”

He fired a blast of magic energy at them, and Starlight barely raised a barrier in time to keep it at bay. Her sisters, and Tick Tock, remained behind her, readying themselves for whatever they would need to do next.

Tick Tock whispered to Curaçao, “Remember, if things start going sideways--”

“Ze Timekeeper, oui,” Curaçao whispered back.

Starlight slid back as the force of energy pushed against her barrier. “I require assistance!”

“We can’t use the Elements, though!” Insipid squealed. “This is, like, super bad!”

“We have to figure them out, and fast,” Havocwing stated. She tapped her temple. “Think think think.”

“Havoc! My barrier cannot withstand much more of this assault!” Starlight called.

Grayscale paused a long moment, then came up behind Starlight and put a hoof on her shoulder. “You can do it, sis.”

“Grayscale?”

“You’re the most powerful unicorn I know. If anypony can stand up to him, it’s you.” She gave Starlight a small grin. “No matter what happens, though, we’re all proud of you.”

Starlight stared for a second, then smiled back. “Thank you, sister. I… you’re correct, I can do this.” She turned her attention back to her shield. “I can accomplish any task set before me.” The shield gained in strength, and Starlight pressed forward. “There is no obstacle I cannot overcome!”

Silvertongue clicked his tongue as Starlight’s barrier managed to resist his light. “Impressive, daughter. Most Impressive.”

“I am aware of the quality of my feats, Silvertongue,” she replied with confidence. “But I no longer require your approval!” As she spoke, a glimmer of light sparkled around her brow. “My sisters rely upon my strength! They see me not as some tool to be utilized to fulfil some task, but as a trusted companion! I am proud to be their sister!”

The light upon her brow flashed, and a thin diadem with a gem shaped like Starlight’s cutie mark rest itself easy upon her - the Element of Pride.

“Hmm. Let us see if you are as powerful as you claim to be.” Silvertongue flared his horn brighter, spreading the beam out wider. Starlight had to focus more energy to keep the blast from enveloping the still-unconscious bearers of the Elements of Harmony. “Foolish, protecting them. You will need to exert significantly more strength to keep your shield extended in such a fashion.”

Starlight grit her teeth. “I possess more than enough power to maintain it! You will not harm anypony ever again!”

“Insipid,” Grayscale said, turning to her sister. “We need all the help we can get to beat him. Do you want to help?”

“Cha, yeah?” Insipid chirped. “But how can I help? I, like, always get in the way.”

“But you want to help, right?”

“More than anything!”

“Then do it.” Grayscale set her hoof on Insipid’s shoulder. “Be of help, if that’s what you want.”

Insipid tilted her head, then nodded. “Okay, so, like… how do I--”

“How do you want to help?”

Insipid tapped her chin, then raised a hoof. “Like, I know!” She bolted over the Curaçao and whispered in her ear.

Curaçao listened attentively, got a surprised expression on her face, then nodded. “Oui, zat could work.”

Insipid squealed with excitement, touched Curaçao with her hoof, and they both turned invisible. As they did so, Insipid’s neck started to sparkle, just a little.

Havocwing nudged Grayscale. “I sure hope you know what you’re doing.”

Grayscale turned to face Havocwing. “Of course I do. I pay attention. I’ve got this figured out.”

“You… you do?”

Grayscale put a hoof on Havocwing’s shoulder. “Star can barely keep up with what she’s doing, Havoc, so we’re gonna need a distraction if Insipid’s plan is going to work. A loud, obnoxious distraction. Can you do that?”

Havocwing nervously rubbed her neck. “Oh, yeah, totally. Uh… but I think he’s is gonna just blast me the second he sees me coming.”

“Then don’t engage him directly. Just keep him distracted, but be smart about it.” Grayscale gave a small smile. “You can do it.”

Havocwing stared at Grayscale, then nodded. “Gotcha.” She paused just before taking off. “Wait, why am I taking orders from you?”

Grayscale narrowed her eyes. “Do you have an idea other than ‘punch him in the face’?”

“Right. Yeah. Gotcha.” Havocwing zipped out over the shield, out of range of the energy blast, and threw a lazy fireball in Silvertongue’s direction. “Hey, Silverdouche! Heads up!”

Silvertongue glanced at the fireball, and casually moved aside to avoid it. “Havocwing, Is that earnestly your best attempt?” he replied, directing a bolt of energy her way. “Disappointing, as usual.”

“‘Is that your best blahblahblah?'” Havocwing mocked, zipping through the air to avoid his attack as she threw another lazy fireball just to keep his attention. “Great one, Silvershit, real zinger! With that kinda lightning wit I can see why Harmonia dumped your lame ass!”

Silvertongue turned to face her, moving the avoid her attack and directing more bolts in her direction. “I beg your pardon?”

Havocwing twirled over Silvertongue’s head, avoiding a blast and throwing another of her own. “Yeah, you heard me! You spend, what, hundreds of years planning to take over for Nihila just so you could bang Harmonia, and she totally rejected you! She was banging some younger guy the whole time! What a total loser you are!”

Silvertongue’s eye twitched. More bolts this time; the energy blast focused on Starlight weakened ever so slightly, giving Starlight time to refocus her energy. “You attempts at goading me--”

“So hey, since Harmonia dumped you, are you gonna crash on a friend’s couch drinking beer all the time now? I hear that’s what happens to deadbeat dads that get kicked out of the house.” Havocwing spun in the air, dancing between bolts with ease while lobbing her own. “Man, I can’t believe my dad’s a deadbeat. That could buck up my emotional growth something fierce!”

“If you’re so disappointed in me as a father, Havocwing, perhaps you should come down here and tell me how you really feel,” Silvertongue snarled, firing more bolts her way. “Where’s the angry little spitfire we all know so well? Where’s the fire and brimstone? Where’s the vim and vigor?”

Havocwing swung through another arc of Silvertongue’s magic. “Whoa, ease up there, Silvercuck, I wouldn’t want you to get cramps in your old age!” As she continued dashing about through the air, her neck began to sparkle.

Velvet watched from behind the shield. “Gray, how are you figuring all this out? You’ve got everypony pegged so far.”

Grayscale shrugged. “Comes with the territory of being the quiet one, I guess.” She turned to Velvet. “So, you wanna do this like the rest of them, or…?”

“Nah. I mean, I don’t even know if my fear powers work anymore and that doesn’t sound cohesive to what the others are getting so far, so I’ve gotta be something else. Just lay it on me.”

“Element of Passion.”

Velvet hummed and nodded. As she did, a necklace appeared around her neck with a gem bearing her cutie mark. “Yeah, okay, sounds legit. Had a tough time thinking of how to work that one in, huh?”

“Pretty much. What’re you gonna do, run in there and grab dad’s junk?” Grayscale said with a grin.

“Eww, gross. I’m not Star.”

“I can hear you,” Starlight snarled back.

Grayscale’s own neck sparkled, and a necklace appeared there as well. “Ah, there it is. Guess I had to complete the set.”

“And yours is…?”

“Element of Objectivity.”

Velvet nodded sagely. “Ah, yeah. Good one. Kind of a smarty-pants feel to it.”

Tick Tock shook her head. “So, what, you’ve got these all sorted then?”

Grayscale nodded. “Just gotta get everypony back and we can unite for one big blast. That’ll drain Harmonia’s essence right out of him, right?”

“And then he’s just a regular ol’ unicorn,” Velvet said with a sadistic grin. “Easy pickings.”

Silvertongue sneered at Havocwing, then noticed how much weaker his assault on Starlight had gotten. She was approaching him now, close enough that she posed a threat. So he redirected his efforts back to her. “Enough games, Havocwing!” he snapped, raising a barrier around himself to deflect Havocwing’s flames. Starlight buckled against his sudden onslaught. “Your attempts to distract me from your sister worked for a time, but no longer. She will run out of energy long before I do.”

Starlight grunted as she slid several feet back again. “Unfortunate. I had achieved a significant advantage.”

Havocwing sailed back behind the shield and landed. “He’s not gonna focus on me anymore, Star,” she said. “We need a new plan.”

Starlight glanced at Havocwing to nod, then stared at her neck. A necklace - the Element of Intensity - had appeared. “It would seem as if you have acquired your Element, sister.”

Havocwing glanced at her necklace, nudged it, and nodded appreciatively. “Neat. The Element of Smacktalk.”

“Uh… not quite,” Grayscale muttered.

Starlight turned to Grayscale. “Where are Insipid and Curaçao? Father’s magic has increased in amplitude, and I am unsure of how much longer I can stymie his efforts.”

“Give it a second.”

Silvertongue flared his horn brighter than before, supercharging his spell. Before long, Starlight would crack under the pressure. “I grow tired of this, daughter! I’ll give you one final attempt to redeem yourself in my eyes - lower your barrier and stand down, and I will allow you to leave this place in peace. Otherwise, you will surely--”

He stopped, and whipped around in time to grab Insipid just as she was leaping up from behind him, snatching her by the throat with his magic. She had no necklace there. “Insipid. Daughter. Why do you want to hurt me?”

“Like, cha? Because you’re being major unfresh?” Insipid choked as she dangled her hooves out to try and touch him. “And being so totally uncool means, like, you’re not perfect?”

Silvertongue smiled. “Well done, Curaçao. An excellent impression. Admirable. You captured your sister’s lack of charm and wit perfectly.”

Insipid’s form dissolved away to reveal Curaçao in her place. “Merci, papa.”

“And it was almost the perfect distraction.” Silvertongue stopped. He turned again in time to catch another Insipid that had attempted to quietly grab his leg, catching her by her tail and dragging her back. She had a necklace dangling from her neck with her cutie mark. “There you are.” He worked his magic to her neck and began to squeeze. “Insipid, though your lack of intelligence is often endearing, if aggravating, now it is just suicidal. Very well, since you and your sisters won’t stand down--”

While he was distracted, Curaçao was able to reach out and grab the back of his neck. “Like, gotcha!”

Silvertongue howled in pain, stopping his assault on Starlight and sharply jerking both Curaçao and Insipid away from him in shock. Curaçao dissolved back into Insipid - albeit with a shinier coat and mane - while Insipid dissolved back into Curaçao. While Silvertongue was reeling, they ran back behind Starlight’s barrier, necklaces dangling from their necks - the Elements of Trickery and Desire.

“Well done,” Grayscale said with a grin. “Your plan Curaçao?”

Curaçao smiled and shook her head. “Non. Insipid’s plan ze ‘ole way. I merely ‘elped ‘er wiz my accent.”

Insipid beamed. “I just wanted to help! So I thought, like, what’s the best way to help? Drain his power! Duh! So like, I told Curie to impersonate me, while I impersonated her impersonating me!”

“Ze classic ‘double bluff’, as zey say.”

Grayscale just blinked. “That’s… actually brilliant. You’re… sure that this was all Insipid’s plan?”

Curaçao smirked. “Does it matter? She just wanted to ‘elp, non?”

“Huh. Go figure.”

Starlight dropped her shield entirely. “Very well then, sisters. It would seem we are in unison as the Elements of Pandemonium. Shall we?”

Havocwing grinned. “Hell yeah.”

“Light him up, girls!” Velvet cheered.

The sisters gathered together in formation, and a fierce blast of multicolored energy - black, gray, and white - quickly enveloped Silvertongue as he was rising to his hooves. He grit his teeth as he, and the whiteness of Equestria Prime in its entirety, went dark for just an instant.

When the light returned, Silvertongue lay crumbled in a heap, battered and broken, his armor torn apart. He no longer had wings, and his horn was cracked. He was broken.

Tick Tock took a deep breath. “We did it. Bloody hell we actually did it.”

Curaçao passed Tick Tock her Timekeeper. “I got zis, just in case. I am glad we did not need it.”

“Of course,” Tick Tock replied. She glanced over at Twilight and her friends, who were finally starting to stir. “See to your counterparts, would you? I have business with Silvertongue to attend to.”

“What will you do with him?” Grayscale asked.

Tick Tock looked in Grayscale’s eyes. “I will give him what he deserves.” She turned to the others. “Any objections?” They all shook their heads, though Starlight took the longest to do so. “Good.”

She trotted over to SIlvertongue, who breathed heavily and tried to rise to his hooves, which was proving difficult.

“Ha… what a fascinating development.” Silvertongue glanced at her as she approached. “The Elements of Pandemonium, they said? Rather different from my original ‘Elements of Discord’ consideration. I did not anticipate this outcome. How are they able to wield counterpart Elements?”

“I couldn’t have predicted this either. Discord is as unpredictable as his name suggests, and gifted him those Elements to stand against you. Perhaps releasing him was a bad idea?”

Silvertongue laughed, though it clearly hurt to do so. “Perhaps.” He looked Tick Tock in the eyes. “I suppose you are going to arrest me, then? Chronomancer protocol dictates you deliver me to your headquarters to stand trial--”

Tick Tock eyed him warily. “You think you’re clever. Don’t you? The Chronomancers would lock you up, oh, that’s for certain. But no matter what I tell them about you, they’d never believe that you’re too bloody clever for them to figure out. So you’d scheme, and plan, and manipulate until you got another chance, this time without anypony to stop you. It might take you years, decades, centuries, even, but even without Nihila and Harmonia’s essences, you still possess an unnatural lifespan because Harmonia gifted it to you all those centuries ago. Right?”

Silvertongue’s smug grin faltered only slightly. “How could you possibly know that?”

It was Tick Tock’s turn to look smug. “Over the last six years I’ve had a lot of time to think in between attempts to win this fight. I got to thinking about our world’s history, and I remembered that not one single Warden in service to either Harmonia or Nihila had the same lifespan you did. Longer than average ponies, sure, but not like yours. Nihila would have no reason to give that to you, either, not with her reputation. So I put the pieces together.”

“So you did.” He narrowed his eyes. “Six years, you say… ah, I see. The Timekeeper must have some secret failsafe that only Chronomancers know about, one that’s not listed in its main functions. A precautionary measure in case the device is compromised.”

“Correct.”

“I anticipated some manner of emergency measure, of course… but this one is quite interesting. You could not accept your failure and so you spent six years worth of fruitless attempts to correct it before you finally succeeded. Bravo.”

“And you’re a sore loser,” Tick Tock fired back.

“Oh no, my compliment is legitimate, Chronomancer. I spent hundreds of years of dedicated, diligent work to bring balance to my world. Your tenacious pursuit of victory is commendable. So then, what are you going to do with me?” he asked. There was no fear in his voice. “Execute me? That goes against your organization’s protocol.”

“You’ll find that sometimes, Chronomancer protocol is more like ‘guidelines’ than actual rules. They can be bendt as necessary.”

“That’s all well and good, but I doubt Twilight Sparkle and her friends would allow murder, no matter how you try to claim it to be justice. Their world has no concept of capital punishment.”

“Twilight Sparkle has no say in this, regardless of her personal stakes. Neither do your ‘daughters’, for that matter. No, the only pony with jurisdiction here is me, and I’ve seen what you’re capable of. There’s no prison that would hold you forever, no creature capable of ‘redeeming’ you, and no place to banish you to that you would not eventually contort to your own whims. Death is too good for you, Silvertongue, but it is the only thing that will stop you.”

Silvertongue smirked. “So be it. Carry out your sentence then, Chronomancer. You know as well as I, in all those six years of history that you rewrote, I won.”

“And unfortunately for you, not in this one, mate.” Tick Tock wound her Timekeeper up, then ignited her horn. “By the authority vested in me by the Order of Chronomancers, I sentence you, Lord Silvertongue of Equestria-V, to death.”

A green glow formed around Silvertongue’s chest. He choked slightly, and grasped at his heart, though his smirk did not falter through the pain of his heart beating so fast that it burst. It took only seconds for the life to fade from his eyes.

Tick Tock’s horn ceased glowing, and she stared at Silvertongue with contempt. She twisted a knob on her Timekeeper and opened a portal, dumping his body into it before sealing it again. With that, she turned, and trotted back towards the others. Twilight and her friends had woken up now, and though they were groggy, injured, and tired, they were, more importantly, alive.

Comments

[Timeline]

Oh whoa. This is actually the first fanfic I ever read, the one that made me think "Maybe fanfics aren't a bad thing". I thought this was dropped when it went on hiatus. I still remember everything since when I ran out of chapters and that was 5-6 years ago.

I blame you Ganon, you are the person that got me into reading fanfics.

[Bugsydor]

So, I totally squeeeed when I saw the EqD update.

And I sputtered in astonishment when I saw that it had been added to Fimfiction.

Dangit, now I'm gonna have to turn off the M filter to see my faves.

It's good to see this fic again.

[Blewfire]

Well worth the wait for this epic finish. I really enjoy these characters so much. The Equestria Prime amd explaining how it works was quite interesting. I really enjoyed this fic and once the last few loose ends are wrapped, I will add to my small but totally, epic, special collection of completed works of grand fiction. Which includes Fallout Equestria. Thanks again for writing this.

[Pseudonym1]

Great updates. I had problems with the LoSB ending, because the characters weren't quite right, and the ending was pretty strange. This one, however, really felt good.

[Seraphem]

To borrow a few phrases from another epic bit of Pony Fiction....

Celestia solar flaring orgasms! Luna shitting moonrocks! and Celestia clop my clit with a hoofful of sunfire!

IT LIVES!? ALL OF THE YES!!!!!!!!!

Now to add it to my 'catch the fuck up on this already pile!

[The Psychopath]

Ah. I'm glad to see what got me into writing mlp fanfics in the first place is safely here now. I haven't read it since...what was it, 2012? Perhaps I should just to brush up on it.

[Starcat5]

Wait a tic, how long as this been here?!?

...a month and a half, apparently. And updating again, no less? There is only one thing to do.

Reuse this clip one last time!

But seriously, seeing this going again warms the cockles of my cold but still beating heart.

[Soge]

Oh my god, you are back =D. Time to re-read the whole thing.

[RoboRed]

Havocwing's taunting diatribe against Silvertongue had me in stitches.

Well, so ends that rat bastard...I hope...

[thaecrasis]

Omg the meta in this chapter is incredible! And let me guess, Equestria I, II, and III are generations 1,2,3 and Equestria IV is gen 4, a.k.a. FiM, and the Prime Canon is the main show. That's quite the series of unexpected turnabouts. Love this chapter!

[So_Many_Wonders]

You know, when Starlight got the element of pride I thought the rest of the elements would be the Seven Deadly Sins (even though the nbers don't match)

[Teraunce]

You did good with those new Elements.

[TheCommunistDog]

Hmm

[My name is R]

Well. This has indeed gotten very meta. I feel confident that I understand everything, at least on some level.

To my consternation, Silvertongue bloody well anticipated that we’d recruit Discord, too - something about how ‘the magic of friendship’ is such a defining feature of your world.

I expected no less from him. I mean, if I saw it as a possibility, then he better well have, Mister Perfection.

“Hmm. Cupcakes reference? Kind of roundabout, though. Also a little dated even when this story was new, don’t you think? Did anyone actually enjoy that story? I mean, outside of some sort of morbid curiosity, like walking past a train wreck.”

If it is dated, I knew it not. I've seen plenty of references to it floating around the fandom, though I chose not to read it.

“I’m sorry, I don’t speak whatever that was,” the fifth Discord stated matter-of-factly to Curaçao.

Just saw the speech back when I was reading his talk with Red, and I thought it refered to Starlight.

Okay, last chapter I was a little disappointed in how you handled Discord, but this makes up for it. This was good.

She had no necklace there.

Curie. I give it 60-40 odds.
Ah, the double switch. It was my second guess, after one swap but before none.

She just wanted to ‘elp, non?

And that's why Insipid is the scariest of all. If she can get her act together. Followed by Velvet, then Starlight and Gray in some order.

and a fierce blast of multicolored energy - black, gray, and white -

Pretty sure that's technically monochromatic.

She twisted a knob on her Timekeeper and opened a portal, dumping his body into it before sealing it again.

Long as ya didn't drop him in the bloody mire, or anything a tha sort.