Oh look, turns out, somehow, Shadowstep managed to survive. Though rather badly mangled. He wakes up in a room, strapped to a table. Neither he nor the reader having any clue how he got there. Looking over his body as best he can in the restraints he sees most of his wounds had been fixed... except his wings. They were so badly damaged he doubted he would ever fly again. Of course, normally something like that would be pretty hard for me.. that kind of thing is always a major issue that hits me hard... but when one of the reasons he knows he'll never fly again is because he's dealt those types of injuries before to others... yeah kind of lose any sympathy.
His thoughts are interrupted by Silvertongue, commenting how disappointed he was in Shadowstep. Failing in the same task twice in less then a day. Though, also making an off-hoof comment about being the one to heal most of the more major damage and saving him.
OH, I like this... It really keeps you guessing. Being Genre Savvy readers, we are expecting him to kill Shadowstep now, yet there is enough doubt that it could go either way. Silvertongue then goes on to berate the assassin over the explosion. Making it seem that I was wrong and it WAS him who did it. Silvertongue particularly upset over exactly what I pointed out. That it would have killed the Mane 6 as well, and Silvertongue quite clearly wanted them alive. Except...
“S-sir, I had nothing—"
So... guess I was right. HAH! Called it!
Though Silvertongue shuts him up, not quite willing to believe him, given the situation. Instead opting to simply read Shadowstep's mind, plunging into it and making him relive the last day or so. Something that freaks him the hell out, and really sounds quite uncomfortable.
It's half recap, half Oh, Crap! as we see the events of the last few chapters summarized as well as the Mane 6's plans, now fully know to Silvertongue. Also.. damn Shadowstep's good. Just the shear amount of time he was able to spend close enough to them to hear everything, and yet completely unseen, undetected... Yeah, we might very well have the freaking scariest pastel colored pony ever here. Only topped by his boss.
The Oh, Crap! for the mares only rises as we get Silvertongue's commentary.
“False passports. Interesting. I did not anticipate that they would take that route. Unfortunate for them that they are, though. The Gate is much easier to monitor. Well done, Shadowstep.”
“So that is Twilight Sparkle, is it? Such aptitude. Such power. A pity that her ambition is solely for scholarly pursuits. I shall have to keep an eye on that one.”
Yeah.. this is not good... very very not good.
As it goes on, it starts looking less and less like things are going to go badly for Shadowstep. After all, Silvertongue healed him, yes lectured him about being disappointed at the failure afterwards and yet..
Oh, Shadowstep. It appears that without the element of surprise on your side, you are not the most apt fighter. Well, we shall soon solve that problem.”
Saying they would be fixing one of Shadowstep's biggest weaknesses. You know besides the whole sadistic streak making him prefer taking his time and being up close and personal. So, yeah looking less and less like a You Have Failed Me is coming. Especially when Silvertongue notes how fortunate Shadowstep is. First that the explosion really was just a freak accident, (Again, "Called it!") And that his first failure ended up having effects that were in Silvertongue's favor. Specifically the fact that, had Shadowstep killed Tick Tock the first time. She wouldn't have been there to meet the Mane 6 after their doctor's visit. (In other 'no duh' news, ponies are cute.) But without her there to push the Mane 6 to flee the city, they most likely would have all, or at least most of them would have, been inside the building when it exploded. Something none of them were likely to survive.
Huh... didn't think about that but.. damn. Yeah Silvertongue is freaking pony Xanatos, always able to see a way to turn anything into a win for him. And we haven't even come CLOSE to learning just how damn amazing he is. All without ever coming off as a Villain Sue.
Though seems all is not forgiven. As while his first failure has mitigating circumstances that Silvertongue is wiling to overlook, his second failure does not. Though he breaks off from discussing that to pull a sphere of glowing, liquid metal out of a container, giving Shadowstep some exposition about it.
It's called Obidium. A very very rare metal. When shaped into a weapon or armor, any device really, it obeys the magic of the crafter as easily as if it was a part of them. Becoming an extension of them. While at the same time resisting all other magic. And he plans to bond this metal to Shadowstep's maimed wings. Repairing the damage to them, giving him back use of them, as well as a new weapon to use against Silvertongue's enemies. Though, while he could have done it while the killer was unconscious, he preferred to wait till Shadowstep could learn from it.
“Oh, a fair bit of warning,” he added. “This might hurt a little.”
Very VERY much an understatement, and the description of it... damn that OW, just OW!. That whole, no sympathy thing from earlier... yeah that doesn't quite cover this much.
In any case, Silvertongue doing this, waiting till he was awake to do something so painful. All kinds of questions on motivation here. And really a lot about Silvertongue that is quite clear by this point. He is ruthless, he will accomplish any goal he sets out to no matter what. (Oh sweet Celestia will he.. just wait.) And yet, he's not sadistic. He didn't do this for the joy of causing pain, like Shadowstep would have. He meant it by this being a learning experience. Shadowstep had failed him. And if there is one thing that will piss him off, it's failure. He wanted it to be damn clear to Shadowstep that he was not being rewarded. That these new wings were not some gift. But rather an upgrade given to him solely to make Shadowstep better at carrying out Silvertongue's will.
Silvertongue is cold, but not heartless. Logical, but not uncaring. He is not emotionless, not devoid of feeling, he is simply in complete and utter control of them. As we'll see later, he has no problem being nice, showing he does care for other ponies, rewarding, just to be nice to them. When it is warranted. But neither will he blink when it comes to dealing with problems. He will be a cold, ruthless motherbucker when he has to be, and not have one shred of remorse for it.
Shadowstep is let free of the bindings, quickly testing out his new wings, feeling them react just as his natural ones did. Even looking just like real wings, other then the metallic sheen. Quickly thanking Silvertongue for them.
Silvertongue laughed and patted Shadowstep hard on the back, causing the pegasus to stumble forward. “Oh, Shadowstep, wherever would you get that idea? Mindlessly killing my subordinates is hardly what I would consider a worthwhile use of time or effort. You are a valuable asset, more so now than you may realize. Even if your more recent endeavors have proven rather disappointing, I still have a purpose for you.”
Once again.. best.. villain.. ever.
Shadowstep quickly tries to leave, almsot salivating at the thought of killing Tick Tock, and dealing with a certain meddlesome cop. Though the door was sealed, not letting him out.... the image of this deadly assassin lost in thought, walking nose first into a door.. why is it so damn amusing?
Turns out that despite not wanting to kill him, Silvertongue isn't quite ready to give the assassin another shoot at failing him quite so soon. Those new wings weren't to be used for that so quickly. No, they were merely to give Shadowstep a fighting chance during his punishment... wait, what!?
And while Shadowstep asks much the same question, he is teleported out of the room and into some massive open swampish area full of the smell of death and decay. So much that even a pony as used to the smell as him was nauseated. Looking around, the entire area, everything, is coated in some reddish-black goo that looked like dried blood, yet Shadowstep knew wasn't. The trees dead and coated with the same stuff. And yet, despite being clearly dead, they didn't look withered. Seemingly still full of life. Same for the piles, and piles, and piles of corpses. They smelled and looked like they should have been laying there for months, years. And yet all of them looking as if they were no more then a few days old. (Umm slight contradiction there on my part. Their skin, their appearance, it looked rotted enough to be ancient. Yet they weren't dessicated, weren't wasted. Other then the decay on the surface, the body looked fairly new.)
Silvertongue voice flashed into Shadowstep's head, along with a burst of pain, telling him this was the "Blood Mire" that there were horror stories about it that would impress even him. Oh also, he better watch his back. Said just as a blast of magic barely misses him. Shadowstep noting how weak it was, and yet his focus drawn not to how pathetic an attack it was but rather who had used it.
Zombie Ponies! Well then... ummm.... this was unexpected.
Shadowstep nearly panics, and lets be honest, who can blame him? Though while basically flailing to try and avoid becoming zombie chow as more and more attack him, he discovers one of the new features of his wings. His feathers are all razor sharp.
Shadowstep’s grin could not have been more massive. He stretched his wing out and brought it down, cleaving the creature’s head clean off. The head rolled aside, and its glowing eyes darkened. The sensation of his own body being a weapon, capable of tearing through flesh and bone, exhilarated him.
Not sure why I quoted this, it's just a really great scene of him realizing what he now has. The killer going on the offensive now, putting his wings to use, casually deflecting some more magic bursts from the unicorn with it. Him and Silvertongue bantering a bit. Shadowstep almost mocking how easy these things were.
Though I do see why the ponies of the city fear them, these creatures are nothing before me now.”
Wait, ponies of the city fear them? What!? (Yeah I know what this is intended to be but, still rather oddly done, maybe it really does get better explored later.)
Silvertongue telling the other pony not to get arrogant, that that was merely a taste, a small practice round to help him get used to his new weapons but, if he want's a chance to really prove himself, well then go ahead.
A barrier he hadn't even noticed fades, causing the piles of corpses all around him to begin animating. Thousands of zombies all coming for him. He quickly realizes there are far far to many and takes to the sky, his new wings quickly outpacing the rotted zombie pegasi's. Though, seems this is cheating, as Silvertongue tells him he isn't escaping punishment so easily. His wings turning into dead weight, causing him to crash. Zombies quickly overwhelming him, biting him.. an odd, painful burning filling each wound, spreading from it... Shadowstep is quickly taken out, buried beneath a horde of hungry zombies.
Okay then.. so much for all that talk about him still being useful and not wanting to kill him... Now, this really makes no sense.. at least as is right now. Going through all that trouble, using a very rare, very valuable material to fix him, give him a weapon. Something Silvertongue admitted even he was running out of. Give a whole speech about how he is still useful... then kill him anyway? It, just doesn't add up, at all. Really really confusing. Though.. that's right now, yes there is pay off later that makes it all make sense. But as of right now, just one big "What the fuck just happened?" And maybe a mark against Silvertongue's "best villain ever" cred... for now.
Anyway, we cut back to Silvertongue, chilling in his elevator, listing to the music, totally not giving a buck about having just killed off somepony he said was a valuable resource. And no this isn't some not so subtle thing showing us just how twisted and evil and sick Silvertongue is that he actually enjoys elevator muzak. This is him being so fucking classy, he actually pipes full on operas into his elevator's.
Yet more awesomeness from the story. It manages to make Silvertongue riding an elevator, then walking down a hallway feel great. Something so boring, so ordinary. Yet, between the descriptions, Silvertongue's feelings while heading toward his destination.. the whole time you get the feeling that this is building to something. It's not just filler, not something that could be simply cut for time/space and lose nothing. It helps build up the atmosphere, create tension. Something big is coming, there is something important about to happen, what is he going there for? Why? It starts to get the reader invested, wanting them to know what's coming, and letting them know something major IS coming, all while being very very subtle about it.
Even the reveal of just what he is going for is kept subtle for a bit, hints, glimpses. Enough that most readers will start to get an idea of what's going on, but not enough to remove the "Huh? Are they really?" "No way this is what they are doing" leaving enough ambiguity to just help build the tension. I love it. Adding just enough little bits for the reader to maybe piece together what's going on without being outright told. Then come the reveal, where those guess turn out to be right, it simply makes it hit the reader even harder, since they've invested so much attention, so much investment into this trying to figure it out.
Inside the room all this buildup was leading to, at first all we see is a room, dimly lit, and full of machinery. Well, 'techno-magic machinery' which other then being some slight techno babble, actually is a good way to describe it, since it's a blending of technology and magic. In the center of the room, raised up on a platform are a number of large egg shaped containers. Six of them.. all with something inside them already...
Yeah, you know 'six' is important. This has something to do with the Mane 6, and, something growing inside six pods... no way, it couldn't be....
And the fact that this is connected to them is solidified when Doctor Blutsauger comes around the tubes to address him. Telling him everything was ready and asking when they would be starting.
“Zank you... zank you, Herr Silvertongue. Zough, I really must zank you for makink it so easy to get zee genetic material. I do not know if I vould have been able to do zis vizout pure samples. Zese specimens are fantastic!”
"Genetic material!?" Yeah, that right there pretty much confirms to everyone just what is going on. Silvertongue is making clones of the Mane 6. Yet still with some questions left, and a rather large swerve still to come.
Like I said, I was about 90% sure something was up with their doctor's visit. But again, I thought they were given something. Using that chance to take something though, that had never occurred to me..
Now that the cats out of the bag, we turn back to the pods.
Twilight Sparkle, representative of the Element of Magic. The only difference between the one here and the one somewhere out there in New Pandemonium City was that the latter had a soul, the former did not. The lack of a cutie mark upon the flank of the one in the pod proved that. Silvertongue knew that soon, that would no longer be the case, that the little mare in this containment pod would no longer be Twilight Sparkle, and yet would be all the same. All of the original’s thoughts, memories, passions, and dreams, every last fiber of her being, would be twisted to his advantage.
Not just clones... but evil clones!? Oh my yes.
Also..
The thought of his labors being given physical form at long last brought a smile to his face.
"At long last"? It's been like, two days tops since you came up with the plan. How is that "at long last." unless, hmmm maybe there's more to it then we know..... hehehehe.
He tells the doctor to leave for a few minutes while he prepares for the final phase. Contacting Nihila and letting her know everything was ready.
Silvertongue responded with his thoughts, not daring to speak aloud. “I am as anxious to begin as you are, milady. The stage has been set, and the actors are all in place. With your blessing, I may pull back the curtain and let our masterpiece perform for itself.”
Knowing what comes later, what, or at least part of what, his real goal is, this takes on SUCH a massive new meaning. At this point there's, there's really nothing more you can say about Silvertongue other then, "You Magnificent Bastard!"
Nihila warns him that the amount of power she will have to give him for this will weaken her, make her unable to contact him or aid him for some time. He assures her he is prepared for that, that these tools will be perfect. Even should their main goal fail, they will be versatile and powerful enough to help in any number of ways.
She leaves, though while her presence fades, he feels filled with her power. The doctor quickly helping him into a rig, attaching a device to his horn and getting everything set.
Blutsauger double-checked all his station’s monitors, then gave a satisfied laugh. “Ha ha! Vee are all ready to go! Venever you are ready, Herr Silvertongue, you may begin—” He dramatically lifted his hoof straight up into the air. “Zee magicks!”
-*Facepalm*-
But, they begin the process and, just damn. The whole description is, well just perfect. Gives you the feel, the epicness of what's happening, the grandness, all without going overboard. Saying what needs to be said quickly, and precisely... just damn.
One of the containers is shifted under the other end of the device attached to Silvertongue. Applejack's clone. Silvertongue noting again the doctor's preference for doing things alphabetically. He pours the power Nihila had given him into the clone, as well as some of his own. Trying to ration out exactly 1/6 of it. And once the eldritch haze and power had cleared..
Silvertongue eagerly awaited the chance to see how her personality had changed from that of her Harmony counterpart, to see if her mind had been twisted as much as her body. He motioned to Blutsauger to send the pod on its way, then re-focused his magic.
There were still five more ponies to transform.
One by one he transforms the other clones, not bothering to inspect each of them. Until the last one, Twilight Sparkle... then..
But then, something went wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.
The power Silvertongue started pumping into the lifeless body reacted to it's own latent magical power. Amplifying it exponentially. The power surging out of control as more and more of the chaotic goddesses power was pumped into it, as well as some of his own.
“Her energy readings are stabilizing, Herr Silvertongue,” Blutsauger said. He ran a hoof through his mane and shook away sweat. “Zee safety parameters vill hold for now. Zee starglass cannot vizstand much more, but so long as her power does not increase, zere should be no—"
Well, guess we can blame what's next on him. He just HAD to open his mouth didn't he?
The tube holding her quickly shattering, much to both of their amazement (seems the 'starglass' was so strong, nopony but Silvertongue could manage enough magical power to break it, and even then only with a lot of effort. Leading him to wonder if perhaps, Twilight, and now her clone, were actually even more powerful then he was, when till now he had been the most powerful mortal unicorn on the planet.)
Wild magic lashes out, a kind of magic neither of the two unicorns can identify, neither 'light' nor 'Dark'. Silvertongue yelling at Blutsauger to keep it up, not to stop the transfer, even as the bolts of power shatter the machinery around them. On near the end even striking Silvertongue, shattering his monocle inward.. into his eye...... and yet, he keeps going, through shear force of will making him keep it up, ignoring the pain, the danger, everything in the single minded goal of finishing what he started. Completing what he had set out to do, no matter what.
In the end, it works. The last of the power is transferred, the storm calming. The twisted clone of Twilight laying in the wreckage of the shattered pod, no longer in stasis like the other clones, though stable, and likely to wake up any time now. Silvertongue brushes off the doctor's concern for his eye, making him help him over to the unconscious mare.
The mare’s eyes slowly fluttered open.
Silvertongue smiled down at her. “Rise and shine, little one...”
.................................................................
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Holy fuck! We have just witnessed one of the greatest things in all of pony-fiction. This was already, even from the start, an amazing story. Great characters, well done, standout ponies, even the one shot, single scene ponies were vibrant, amazing, unique. Some of the best written and most genuinely frightening villains out there. More so for being so damn competent. Add into an already great story this. Twisted version of the Mane 6. Yes Evil Clone is rather cliched but, like this, with such set up. Even without seeing anything about them, just due to how grand their creation was, you know this is going to be far from some cliched mess.
With so many amazing things about this story, it is still this, this right here that it is best known for, that makes it stand out so much. So far it's nailed pretty much everything, great story, awesome world building, incredible characters. This, this just sends it off the scales.
Every time I've seen people recommend this story, it's been "Make sure you read to chapter 7" "Chapter 7 is where the story REALLY takes off" it's the defining point in the story.. and for good reason. As much as the fic does right, noting comes close to matching the shear greatness of what started here. With the birth, of the Mean 6.
Thoughts-What more can I say? This chapter was just one long string of showing off how epic Silvertongue is. First in how he, at least at first, seemingly averts the You Have Failed Me trope. Though then seems to go through with it after wasting time and resources on Shadowstep. Yeah until you know what's coming later, the way it ended is rather confusing in that regards. But, just how much trouble he went through for Shadowstep, not out of concern for him, but because he could still use him. Being practical. And yeah in the end, even 'killing' him was for bigger reasons.
Though two things about that first bit that still leave me kind of 'huh?'. First. How did Shadowstep survive and get to Silvertongue to be healed? There are enough possibilities that's not really a plot hole, you know there is a valid reason that will make sense, simply due to how many possibilities there are, yet, which one was it? Would really have liked a line or two from one of them letting us know.
Second, the 'mutants' There's a single line here about the ponies in the city fearing them, except, we never saw that before. We got two bits that might have lead up to it. One, either Flathoof or Lockwood telling the mares that if it was known they were refuges from the Wastes, that they'd have to be tested for "mutations' and go through a lot harder process. Now, yeah could be part of that whole thing but, it also could have meant anything, there's no direct connection between the two. And second Flathoof mentioning there are, things, outside if you try to leave through any way but The Gate. Yeah knowing everything, it's likely these 'mutants'. But, most of this all comes from Word of God, not the story itself. Without that, I wouldn't even think there was a connection between the things in the Blood Mire, and the creatures near the city. Especially given just how far away from the city it is.
Another good point is, despite the dark tone of the chapter, there is still a few genuinely amusing bits. Shadowstep walking into the door, the doctor's theatrics. Yet, they don't distract from the overall mood. Give a small bit of levity, without going to far. This is still pony after all, need a bit of comedy now and then.
As to the last part... nothing more I can say. It is an epic start, to the most epic part, of an epic story.
Title-Invention. Not the best word I'd use for what went on, but it does kind of fit. the first part, giving Shadowstep his new wings, then the creation of the clones. Maybe a better word would have worked better, but, still fits.
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